Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Houston, TX
713-639-7300
http://www.mfah.org
Irving Penn, A Career in
Photography
Over one-hundred vintage and master prints
spanning the extraordinary career of Irving Penn, one of America's most
celebrated photographers, will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
beginning March 25, 2000 through June 4, 2000. "Irving Penn, A Career
in Photography" presents works from every stage of Penn's fifty-year
career, from his trend setting fashion photography for Vogue magazine
and his well-known work as a celebrity portraitist to travel photography
and still lifes. Personal projects also highlight the exhibition, including
a series of nudes made in I949-1950 and an extensive series of ethnographic
studies from such places as Peru, New Guinea, and Morocco. "A Career
in Photography" is one of the special exhibitions to accompany the
grand opening of the Audrey Jones Beck Building of the MFAH on March 25,
2000. (left: Young Woman in a Net (Miyake Design), New York,
1993 (print April 1994), Platinum palladium photograph, The Art Institute
of Chicago, gift of Irving Penn (1996.250) © 1993 by Irving Penn)
Peter Marzio, director of the MFAH, said, "The museum
is pleased to open the Millennium Gallery of the 
Audrey Jones Beck Building with the work of such an
important twentieth-century American photographer. Irving Penn's photographs
are icons that provide a fascinating record of cultural and economic trends."
(right: Chimney Sweep, London, 1950 (print 1967), Platinum palladium
photograph, The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Irving Penn (1996.263)
© 1951 by The Condé Nast Publications, Inc.)
"A Career in Photography" was mounted in celebration
of a major gift by Penn of his photographic and paper archives to The Art
Institute of Chicago. The exhibition is organized by The Art Institute of
Chicago and curated by Colin Westerbeck, associate curator of photography.
Presentation of the exhibition in Houston is coordinated by Anne Wilkes
Tucker, the Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator of Photography at the MFAH.
"Penn's career, with its wide-ranging subjects and varied genres, explores
the complex relationship between commerce and art in our society,"
Tucker said. "Constantly shifting roles as a photojournalist and an
artist, Penn created works of timeless beauty and character."
"Irving Penn, A Career in Photography" presents
the full scope of Penn's work--from the commercial to the intensely personal.
Penn balanced commercial assignments with personal projects of a contrasting
nature, such as the nudes and the ethnographic studies, to maintain equilibrium
in his work. Penn's public career was ultimately enriched by his constant
exploration of the photographic medium and its boundaries. "A Career
in Photography" presents the vast range of Penn's
work organized by genre: portraiture, fashion, ethnographic studies, nudes,
travel, and still life. This presentation reveals how Penn's remarkable
career continuously crossed, and merged, the boundaries between art and
commerce.
Portraiture
Penn
captured the faces, and personalities, of celebrities from movie star Spencer
Tracy (I948) to author Anaïs Nin (1971), gradually changing
his approach to portraiture over the years. In the 1940s, Penn positioned
his sitters in a narrow corner created by two bare, dull theater flats,
a device of his own creation. The set both physically and psychologically
confined the sitters, 
putting them on equal footing with Penn. Artist Marcel
Duchamp (I948) relaxed into the corner, detached and confident, while
American artist Georgia O'Keeffe (1948) became diminished by the
space. Penn developed a more direct approach by the late 1950s, photographing
subjects such as Picasso (1957) and Louis Jouvet (1951) at
close-range. A dramatic change in lighting can be seen in his portraits
of the 1980s, which include a striking image of the artist William de
Kooning (1983). Penn's manipulation of formal design elements such as
light and shadow, and his ability to capture a significant gesture, expression,
or mood, ultimately reveal something intriguing about his subjects. (left:
Anais Nin, New York, 1971 (print February 1982), Platinum palladium
photograph, The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Irving Penn (1996.216)
© 1971 by The Condé Nast Publications, Inc.; right: Truman
Capote, New York, 1965 (print 1986), Platinum palladium photograph,
The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Irving Penn (1996.215) © 1965
(renewed 1993) by The Condé Nast Publications, Inc.)
Fashion
The
exhibition presents the fifty-year span of Penn's fashion editorial assignments,
from his first Vogue cover in 1943 to recent photographs of Japanese
fashion designer Issey Miyake's contemporary designs. Penn's initial fame
as a leading fashion photographer came in 1950 when his technique of removing
models from traditional settings modernized fashion photography. He drew
attention to the clothing and accessories by eliminating props and photographing
models isolated against stark surfaces. Harlequin Dress (1950), illustrates
the elegance and simplicity of such images. The occasional inclusion in
the photographic frame of wires or cords from the set serve as a reminder
that the glamour of the image is manufactured in a studio. (left:
Harlequin Dress (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), New York, 1950 (print March
1979), Platinum palladium photograph, The Art Institute of Chicago, gift
of Irving Penn (1996.236), © 1950 (renewed 1978) by The Condé
Nast Publications, Inc.)
More recent highlights include provocative photographs
of Issey Miyake's designs that inspired the designer in the 1980s. In his
essay in the exhibition catalogue, Miyake said, "The clothes have been
given a voice of their own! ... Here were my clothes, but shown in such
a way that they appeared totally new to me." (Irving Penn, 43)
Also on view are several of the 160 cover assignments that Penn has completed
for Vogue since 1943·
Ethnographic Studies
Penn's
ethnographic studies and images of anonymous people present a striking contrast
to his glamorous celebrity portraits. Six Street Boys (1948) and
Two Cholas (Mestizas) from Puno (1948), taken in the town of Cuzco,
are among his earliest examples. Penn photographed Quechuan Indians of Cuzco
in their traditional clothes within the contrived setting of a studio. Between
1964 and 1971, Penn completed seven different projects of this nature. The
subjects range from New Guinea mud men to San Francisco hippies, ail carefully
choreographed before the camera in makeshift studios. (left: Tambul
Warrier, New Guinea, 1970 (print March 1979), Platinum palladium photograph,
The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Irving Penn (1996.268), © 1974
by Irving Penn, courtesy of Vogue)
Nudes
Penn began photographing nudes as a private project in
1949-50 at the same time that his career as a reputable fashion photographer
was established. Technically, Penn's approach to the nudes was completely
different from his commercial work. He devised a technique of bleaching
and re-developing each print to create high contrast areas that enhance
the texture and volume of the image. The soft contours of the nudes, mostly
tightly framed torsos, are the antithesis of Penn's stylized photographs
of fashion models. The models are positioned seated or lying, emphasizing
the weightiness of the figures, and the tangibility of the subjects.
Travel
Prior to becoming a professional photographer, Penn worked
as a designer and frequently took photographs as visual note-taking. He
was particularly interested in signage, and captured casual images of the
landscape interspersed with lettering from signs, buildings, and other objects.
Examples include Funeral Home (1941) and O'Sullivan's Heels
(c.1939). Also on view are photographs such as Fisherman and Watcher
(1966) from annual travel features that Penn completed for Look magazine
in the 1960s.
Still Life
Penn's
fascination with still life is evident in the dramatic range of photography
he has produced in this genre. His first assignment as a Vogue studio
photographer was a still-life cover, and over the years he completed striking
still-life product shots. In the 1970s, Penn produced a startlingly inventive
series of still-lifes using memento mori objects and urban detritus such
as cigarette butts, decaying fruit and vegetables, and discarded clothing.
He successfully challenged the traditional idea of beauty, giving dignity
and nobility to common street trash with rich hues and gorgeous lighting.
Ironically, these photographs act as a dark reflection of the consumer products
Penn shot commercially. (left: Lion Skull, Prague,
1986 (print 1986), Gelatin silver photograph, The Art Institute of Chicago,
gift of Irving Penn (1996.179), © 1986 by Irving Penn)
Artist's Biography
Born
in 1917, Penn studied design at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial
Art under Alexey Brodovitch from 1934 to 1938. Brodovitch hired Penn as
an assistant illustrator and art designer for Harper's Bazaar, and
later, at Saks Fifth Avenue department store. After taking time off to paint
in Mexico, Penn began working at Vogue under the direction of the
art director, Alexander Liberman. Although he was hired to develop cover
ideas, Penn photographed his first cover for the October 1943 issue and
continues to work with the magazine today. (left: Chicks in a Jar,
Mexico, 1942 (print 1983), Gelatin silver photograph, The Art Institute
of Chicago, gift of Irving Penn (1996.160), © 1984 by Irving Penn)
From fashion photography and celebrity portraiture, Penn
branched out into several different genres. He has always been dedicated
to the optimal presentation of his work and he has become a master printer
of such processes as platinum-palladium and selenium-toned silver gelatin.
"A Career in Photography" celebrates the innovative and meticulous
work of this important twentieth-century photographer. Penn's publications
include Moments Preserved (1960), Worlds in a Small Room (1974)
and Passage (1991).
Catalogue
A I92-page catalogue accompanies the exhibition. It features
essays by six individuals who have collaborated with Penn at different points
in his career: fashion designer Issey Miyake; editor, biographer, and art
lecturer Rosamond Bernier; anthropologist Edmund Carpenter; English historian
of fashion and photography Martin Harrison; and Professor Colin Eisler of
the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. In addition, the editor
of the book, Colin Westerbeck, provides an insightful overview of Penn's
career in his introductory essay.
This exhibition has been organized by The Art Institute
of Chicago with the support of American Airlines. Funding in Houston has
generously been provided by Charles Butt and The Chase Texas Foundation
with additional support from Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Clarke, Jeaneane B.
Duncan, and John L. Wortham & Son, L.L.P.
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Over one-hundred vintage and master prints
spanning the extraordinary career of Irving Penn, one of America's most
celebrated photographers, will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
beginning March 25, 2000 through June 4, 2000. "Irving Penn, A Career
in Photography" presents works from every stage of Penn's fifty-year
career, from his trend setting fashion photography for Vogue magazine
and his well-known work as a celebrity portraitist to travel photography
and still lifes. Personal projects also highlight the exhibition, including
a series of nudes made in I949-1950 and an extensive series of ethnographic
studies from such places as Peru, New Guinea, and Morocco. "A Career
in Photography" is one of the special exhibitions to accompany the
grand opening of the Audrey Jones Beck Building of the MFAH on March 25,
2000. (left: Young Woman in a Net (Miyake Design), New York,
1993 (print April 1994), Platinum palladium photograph, The Art Institute
of Chicago, gift of Irving Penn (1996.250) © 1993 by Irving Penn)
