Irving Penn

Biography and works

Works

Irving Penn is perhaps best known for his fashion photographs that, beginning with his notable 1950s series of the Paris collections, defined a new look for magazines. By placing models against plain backdrops, Penn removed the familiar indicators of space or scale and allowed fashion to stand alone as the subject of his images. Many fashion photographs point to changes in aesthetic sensibilities as well as to changes in fashion itself, and Penn’s routine use of minimal, flat backgrounds can be viewed as the introduction of the modern age of fashion photography…

Works

4 Works online

Irving Penn’s unbroken stream of creative invention spanned seven decades and established an indelible standard of clarity, grace, wit, and elegance. The Museum of Modern Art has collected and exhibited his photographs since 1943, and in 1984 we were proud to present a retrospective organized by his friend John Szarkowski, then head of MoMA’s Department of Photography. A selection of Penn’s outstanding photographs from the Museum’s collection is presented as a tribute to this remarkable artist.