In his acclaimed portraits, Richard Avedon captured iconic figures of the twentieth century in his starkly bold, intimately minimal, and forensic visual style, while his work for Harper's Bazaar and Vogue transformed the ideals of women's fashion, femininity, and culture, which defined the look of an era. Yet despite his driving ambition to gain respect in the art world, Avedon was condescendingly dismissed as a "celebrity photographer." What Becomes a Legend Most is the first definitive biography of this luminary-an intensely driven man who endured personal and professional prejudice, struggled with deep insecurities, and mounted an existential lifelong battle to be recognized as an artist. Philip Gefter builds on archival research and exclusive interviews with those closest to Avedon, revealing how the 1950s and 1960s informed Avedon's life and work as much as he reflected the period, and illuminates his circle of close friends, a profoundly influential group of artists-Leonard Bernstein, Truman Capote, James Baldwin, Harold Brodkey, Renata Adler, Sidney Lumet, and Mike Nichols-who were instrumental in shaping the cultural life of the American twentieth century. Balancing glamour and gossip with the gravitas of artistic achievement, What Becomes a Legend Most is an intimate window into Avedon's fascinating world and cements his legacy as one of the most consequential artists of his time.