ULTIMATE
70
Irving Penn
Bee on Lips, New York
- Estimate
- £80,000 - 120,000
£100,000
Lot Details
Dye transfer print, printed 1999.
1995
Image: 40.5 x 57.1 cm (15 7/8 x 22 1/2 in)
Sheet: 49 x 58.7 cm (19 1/4 x 23 1/8 in.)
Sheet: 49 x 58.7 cm (19 1/4 x 23 1/8 in.)
Signed, initialled, titled, dated in pencil, Condé Nast copyright credit reproduction limitation, credit and edition stamps on the verso. One from an edition of 11.
This image was realised only as a dye transfer print in an edition of 11.
This image was realised only as a dye transfer print in an edition of 11.
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Catalogue Essay
‘He changed the way we saw the world and our perception of what is beautiful.’
Anna Wintour
‘For this picture, we had to fly a bee keeper from New Mexico. Bees become docile and harmless when cold, and our bee keeper knew the exact temperature for this state of induced hibernation – he put them in the fridge. Penn remembered that “Bee Stung Lips” had been a popular expression in the 1950s to characterise full, pouty lips. So in 1995, when women started having collagen injected to make their lips fuller, he thought using this idea was a perfect illustration for the Vogue article. Our first task was to find a brave model who had no insect phobias. Estella Warren was fearless and she posed patiently while our wrangler placed one bee after another on her lips. From behind his camera, Penn gave instructions: first he asked her to close her mouth, then open it a little, then a little more. We tried many different bees and Estella made different shapes with her mouth. In fact, she became very playful, and at one point, stuck her tongue out and flicked a bee onto it. When a bee began to warm up under the studio lights, the wrangler quickly substituted a colder one. No photographer or editor or bee was harmed during the shoot. At the end of the day, our bee keeper calmly packed up his colony and took them back home to New Mexico.’
Phyllis Posnick
Anna Wintour
‘For this picture, we had to fly a bee keeper from New Mexico. Bees become docile and harmless when cold, and our bee keeper knew the exact temperature for this state of induced hibernation – he put them in the fridge. Penn remembered that “Bee Stung Lips” had been a popular expression in the 1950s to characterise full, pouty lips. So in 1995, when women started having collagen injected to make their lips fuller, he thought using this idea was a perfect illustration for the Vogue article. Our first task was to find a brave model who had no insect phobias. Estella Warren was fearless and she posed patiently while our wrangler placed one bee after another on her lips. From behind his camera, Penn gave instructions: first he asked her to close her mouth, then open it a little, then a little more. We tried many different bees and Estella made different shapes with her mouth. In fact, she became very playful, and at one point, stuck her tongue out and flicked a bee onto it. When a bee began to warm up under the studio lights, the wrangler quickly substituted a colder one. No photographer or editor or bee was harmed during the shoot. At the end of the day, our bee keeper calmly packed up his colony and took them back home to New Mexico.’
Phyllis Posnick
Provenance
Literature
Irving Penn
American | B. 1917 D. 2009Irving Penn was one of the 20th century’s most significant photographers, known for his arresting images, technical mastery, and quiet intensity. Though he gained widespread acclaim as a leading Vogue photographer for over sixty years, Penn remained a private figure devoted to his craft. Trained under legendary art director Alexey Brodovitch in Philadelphia, he began his career assisting at Harper’s Bazaar before joining Vogue in 1943, where editor and artist Alexander Liberman recognized Penn’s distinctive eye and encouraged him to pursue photography. Penn’s incomparably elegant fashion studies reset the standard for the magazine world, and his portraits, still lifes, and nude studies broke new ground. His 1960 book Moments Preserved redefined the photographic monograph with its dynamic layout and high-quality reproductions. In 1964, Penn began printing in platinum and palladium, reviving this 19th-century process to serve his own distinct vision. An innovator in every sense, Penn’s approach to photography was endlessly adventurous. Few photographers of his generation experimented as widely with both conventional and historic print processes, and none achieved Penn’s level of excellence in all.
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