IRVING PENN Irving Penn American 1917 2009 Born

IRVING PENN

Irving Penn (American, 1917– 2009) • Born June 16, 1917, Plainfield, N. J. • Mr. Penn died on Oct. 7, 2009; he was 92. • American Photographer • Penn was best known for his immaculate portraits, still life, and fashion photography. • Irving Penn worked most of his career in Vogue fashion. • Fashion photography was the highlight of his career • Irving Penn had a very unique style to creating his images. He was the first fashion photographer that used a plain grey/white backdrop in his images. After studying graphic design in school, Penn purchased his first camera in 1938.

• Irving Penn studied drawing and painting at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art in the 1930 s. • After working as a freelance designer, he took some time off to go to Mexico in order to paint. • A year later, (1942) he realized he would never make it as an artist so he came back to New York, where he was hired by Vogue; designing photographic covers for the fashion magazine. • He began photographing his own ideas for covers and soon established himself as a fashion photographer. • In his portraits the subject is usually posed before a bare backdrop and photographed in natural northern light.

“This perfection, which he sought in his images, seemed to contrast with his desire to show the imperfections in the beauty, which most fashion photographers seek to conceal. His style of shooting tended to enhance the flaws. The bare backgrounds mean all we see is the subject itself, there are no distractions to keep us from seeing what is really there. His series of nudes, for instance, are not the typically perfect female bodies that are used so prevalently by photographers. Using women with varying physical shapes, from very thin to extremely overweight; he would cut off faces and limbs and photograph them in very unusual poses. They were anything but perfect. ”

Stella Tennant Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, March 01, 1996

Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, March 1996

Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, May 2004

Model: Lisa Fonssagrives Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, September 1, 1951

Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, March 2001

Girl Behind Bottle (1949)

“One of the few images I have from Mr. Penn. He was very particular and didn’t conform to anyone else’s ideas. This image kind of disarms me and makes me question where my thoughts were at that moment. I still can’t figure it out. ” Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, March 1996

Isabella Rossellini Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, June 1997

Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, April 2006

EMULATION 1

REFERENCES "No Breaks: Irving Penn - Faded & Blurred. " Faded & Blurred. N. p. , 04 Oct. 2012. Web. 01 May 2015. "Irving Penn | Biography - American Photographer. " Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n. d. Web. 01 May 2015. "Irving Penn. " - Photographer. N. p. , n. d. Web. 01 May 2015