Irving Penn - Photographs New York Wednesday, April 3, 2013 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York

  • Catalogue Essay

    Leontyne Price is an American soprano and one of the greatest voices of the twentieth century. Born in Mississippi in 1927, she rose to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s by tackling the most demanding roles in the operatic repertoire. She was the first African American to sing a leading role at La Scala, Italy’s most important opera house, with a performance of Aida in May 1960. The next year, her debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House in Il trovatore was so searing and powerful that it was followed by a 40 minute standing ovation. In the present lot, Irving Penn’s meticulous and steady approach to portraiture captures Price at the height of her career and in a moment of contemplation.

  • Artist Biography

    Irving Penn

    American • 1917 - 2009

    Arresting portraits, exquisite flowers, luscious food and glamorous models populate Irving Penn's meticulously rendered, masterful prints. Penn employed the elegant simplicity of a gray or white backdrop to pose his subjects, be it a model in the latest Parisian fashion, a famous subject or veiled women in Morocco.

    Irving Penn's distinct aesthetic transformed twentieth-century elegance and style, with each brilliant composition beautifully articulating his subjects. Working across several photographic mediums, Penn was a master printmaker. Regardless of the subject, each and every piece is rendered with supreme beauty. 

    View More Works

218

Leontyne Price, New York, November 6

1961
Gelatin silver print.
10 3/8 x 10 3/8 in (26.4 x 26.4 cm)
Signed, titled, dated, initialed, annotated 'Print made 1961' in ink, credit and Condé Nast copyright credit reproduction limitation stamps on the reverse of the mount. One from an edition of 4.

Estimate
$8,000 - 12,000 

Sold for $13,750

Contact Specialist
Vanessa Kramer Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs
vhallett@phillips.com
+ 1 212 940 1245

Photographs

3 April 2013
New York