Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty and Reverberate at Museum of Photographic Art

By Patricia Frischer

“I have always stood in awe of the camera. I recognize it for the instrument it is, part Stradivarius, part scalpel.” Irving Penn #mopasd

Irving Penn  (1917–2009), known for his iconic fashion, portrait and still life images that appeared in Vogue magazine, ranks as one of the foremost photographers of the 20th century. “Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty,” organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and curated by Merry Foresta, the museum’s first Curator of Photography, is the first retrospective of Penn’s work in nearly 20 years. 

These works all have important thing in common and that is Peen's astute eye for composition and his great photographic craft. As I traveled through the show, I constantly had to stop and look at very special images and I could easily discern his point of view. Penn studies art (painting) and design as a student and this informed all of his work, even the commercial fashion photography.

He used and mastered processes of archival pigments, chromogenic, dye destruction, dye transfer, gelatin silver and platinum. He built cameras and worked in black and white and color. 

The exhibition features work from the early 1930's to 2009. We see street scenes, but starting with his travel  of the American South and abroad, all the images are set up and controlled.  This includes the celebrity portraits with special attention for those taken in a corner, to the fashion photographs and still lives.  The backgrounds and studios are lighted and constructed seemingly in the majority of these works with a vision in mind. 

There are 150 images in this show, some of the more modern taken in the 50 were not even shown until the 1980's. the show is titled Beyond Beauty so as expected there are limited numbers of fashion magazine shots.  Irving Penn was a man who pushed himself constantly and managed to elevate the everyday to something sublime. The Museum of Photography San Diego is hosting this show until Feb 17.  

 The shadow of the photographer seen in both of these images maybe not be present in his later work, but his strong style is consistent. 

Key, Gun and Photographer, 1939  Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the The Irving Penn Foundation

Snow Balls 2,3, and 5 Cents, 1941  Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation

Hard to tell if this is a completely painted image or if the clock hands actually function.

  Irving Penn, Chicks in a Jar, Mexico, 1942, printed 1983, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation. Copyright © The Irving Penn Foundation

Irving Penn, Young Boy, Pause Pause, American South, 1941, printed 2001, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of 

Group of Intellectuals, 1948 Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation

New York Theatrical Producers, 1947  Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of  The Irving Penn Foundation

Truman Capote, 1948.  Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the The Irving Penn Foundation

Irving Penn, Nude No. 58, New York, about 1949–1950, printed 1976, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist. Copyright © The Irving Penn Foundation

Girl with Fruit, Show and Butterflies, 1946  Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation
Very proper and very naughty at the same time!

Two Rissani Women with bread, 1971, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist.
The loaf of bread and the toes reveal more about these two than one would expect. 

1.      Irving Penn, Sitting Enga Woman, New Guinea, 1970, printed 1986, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist. Copyright © The Irving Penn Foundation

Nubile Young Beauty of Diamare, 1969  Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist. 

A fashion photo or a fine artwork? or both?

1.      Irving Penn, Ball Dress by Olivier Theyskens for Nina Ricci, New York, 2007, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation. Copyright © Condé Nast 

Dior Black Suit (Tania) 1950,  Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the The Irving Penn Foundation

Elbows and shoes are favorite components...angles and the negative spaces they create are seen over and over..

Willie Mays, 1954,  Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation

The chimney sweep broom above and the sleeve below are both as important as the face...or more so. 

Still Water and Sparkling water. 

Found object colleges

  Irving Penn, Mud Glove, New York, 1975, printed 1976, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist. Copyright © The Irving Penn Foundation

1.      Irving Penn, Mouth (for L’Oréal), New York, 1986, printed 1992, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation. Copyright © The Irving Penn Foundation

1.      Irving Penn, Girl Behind Bottle (Jean Patchett), New York, 1949, printed 1978, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist. Copyright © The Irving Penn Foundation

Ripe Cheese, 1992  Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation

Bouillabaisse,1948, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the The Irving Penn Foundation

Reverberate is a juried show of 100 student works chosen from over 600 submissions. These two works stood out to me as wonderful examples of our time, not maudlin just honest.  

Rhett Niedermeyer age 15

Shamira Hassan, age 13

The museum new policy of pay what you can and pay by the month instead of the year does seem to be working. The sales in shop have increased greatly as MOPASD has managed to take down a barrier to attending, reports Deborah Klochko, executive director. 

Deborah Klochko

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