IRVING PENN

By: Hallie Nolan

Biography

Born in New Jersey in1917

Attended the Philadelphia Museum School, where he studied under

AlexeyBrodovitch

In 1937, a few of his painting were published in Harper’s Bazaar

1940-1941 he worked as the advertising director for Saks Fifth

Avenue.

After he spent time in Mexico painting he was hired by Vogue

magazine to create cover illustrations as well as photographing the

covers and editorial illustrations for articles inside the magazine.

In 1950, he married his favorite model to photograph, Lisa

Fonssagrives, with whom he founded his studio with in 1953.

They had one son who is named Tom. Lisa Fonssagrives, his wife,

died in 1992.

Penn’s Work

His work did much to define post-war notions of feminine chic and glamour, which is what became best known for.

In his fashion and portrait photography, Penn preferred to use a neutral backdrop of gray or white seamless paper

Or he would use architecturally constructed sets which created striking effects with slanted, tilting , diving diagonals, and perspectives that would tip upwards.

His work was also important because it showed the balance of form and carefully adjusted composition, with shades of light and tone, presenting the subject as emotionally neutral or always kept at a distance emotionally and psychologically.

Why it’s Important

Influence

Penn has decided to photograph cigarette butts, crumpled wrappers, the torsos of plump artists' models, and most recently, still lifes of skulls, bones, and construction materials, which all seem very unfashionable, but have stillinfluenced Penn and is photography.

Penn brought an unprecedented sense of drama to his portraits driving the viewer's focus onto the person and their expression which influenced many photographers to follow in his foot steps and their techniques

Who Influenced Penn : Who Penn Influenced:

Critical Analysis

“Throughout his career, IrvingPenn has offset the flawless chic of his fashion photographs with work that focuses on decidedly unfashionable things”

-Vince Aletti Artforum International

I like his work because it’s not all the same, and there are different angles and tones used in his photographs. He also keeps his backgrounds simple so that you can see the complicityinhis subject, and their facial decisions if it’s a portrait.

by an art historian: by me:

Photograph

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Citation:

^Getty Acquires Irving Penn's Most Extensive Work,

ARTINFO, February 7, 2008,

<http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/26765/getty-

acquires-irving-penns-most-extensive-work/>. Retrieved

on 11 March 2009

http://www.masters-of-

photography.com/images/full/penn/penn_findings.jpg.Re

trieved on March 11 2009.