Richard Avedon’s murals, The Mission Council, Andy Warhol and members of The Factory, and The Chicago Seven and Allen Ginsberg’s Family hold profound artistic and cultural significance, marking a pivotal evolution in photographic portraiture and American visual history. Best known for his stark, large-scale black-and-white photographs, Avedon’s murals departed from the traditional individual portrait by assembling groups of subjects into life-sized, panoramic compositions that demanded viewers confront their scale and presence. These works, created primarily in the late 1960s and early 1970s, reflected the political and social turbulence of the era—capturing civil rights activists, Vietnam War protesters, counterculture figures, and political personalities. What made Avedon’s murals particularly impactful was how they blurred the line between photography and fine art. Displayed in monumental formats, sometimes exceeding 30 feet in length, the murals elevated photography to a scale typically reserved for historical paintings. Avedon’s compositional approach was also original. He used a plain white background and great detail to isolate his subjects, focusing all attention on their expressions, gestures, and interpersonal dynamics. This approach placed influential figures at the forefront of the public and highlighted the emotional and psychological nuances of the moment. For example, in his mural The Mission Council (1971), he captured top U.S. military and political advisors during the Vietnam War in a way that subtly exposed their personalities and power dynamics. Ultimately, Avedon’s murals represent a fusion of artistry and social commentary. They serve as both intimate portraits and documents of life during the transformation people were experiencing during this time. Three of these murals were later displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with Allen Ginsberg’s Family remaining in the collection of the Isreal Museum. Their display at the Met reasserted photography’s capacity to engage with contemporary issues on a grand, impactful scale—as a sculpture would. This showing cemented Avedon’s legacy in both photographic form and cultural advocacy through his art.