Irving Penn, The Man Who Reinvented Fashion Photography

Description

One of the most esteemed artists of the 20th century, American photographer Irving Penn’s works are concise, smooth and defined by a stark black-and-white colour palette. This simple yet elegant aesthetic marked an innovative departure from the lush, ornate settings that had previously defined fashion photography. Penn photographed for Vogue and other commercial clients in America and abroad for nearly seven decades.

Held at Pace Gallery’s H Queen’s space, this exhibition will feature several photographs from Penn’s time at Vogue, striking portraits of seminal creative figures, such as Truman Capote, Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso and Georgia O’Keefe—just to name a few. Other photographic works on show are nudes, still lifes, ethnographic portraits, and several pieces from Penn’s unconventional 1972 Cigarette series, comprising platinum printed photographs of discarded cigarette butts.

A small selection of paintings Penn made at the end of his career, will be exhibited alongside these photographs.