Over the course of his nearly 70-year career, Irving Penn (1917-2009) mastered a pared-down aesthetic of studio photography that is distinguished for its meticulous attention to composition, detail, and printmaking. This will be the most comprehensive exhibition of the American photographer’s work to date and will include both masterpieces and hitherto unknown prints from all his major series. The exhibition will thoroughly explore a number of series including: street signs, fashion and style, portraits of indigenous people in Peru, and glorious colour studies of flowers. These subjects chart the artist’s path through the demands of the cultural journal, the fortunes of the picture press, the moral condition of the American conscience during the Vietnam War era, and the growth of photography as a fine art. Find out more about the Irving Penn exhibition from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s website.
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Marlene Dietrich, New York, 1948 (2000), Irving Penn. © The Irving Penn Foundation
Nude No. 72, New York, 1949–50 Irving Penn. © The Irving Penn Foundation
Tribesman with Nose Disc, New Guinea, 1970 (2002), Irving Penn. © The Irving Penn Foundation
Single Oriental Poppy, New York (1968), Irving Penn. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. © The Irving Penn Foundation
Truman Capote, New York, 1948 (1968), Irving Penn. © The Irving Penn Foundation
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