30
Irving Penn
Single Oriental Poppy, New York
- Estimate
- £50,000 - 70,000‡
£118,750
Lot Details
Dye transfer print, printed 1989.
1968
Approximately 54.4 x 43.1 cm (21 3/8 x 16 7/8 in.)
Signed, initialled, titled, dated in pencil, Condé Nast copyright credit (courtesy Vogue) reproduction limitation and edition stamps on the verso. From an edition of 18.
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Catalogue Essay
' …the reader will probably note my preference for flowers considerably after they have passed that point of perfection, when they have already begun spotting and browning and twisting on their back to the earth.'
Irving Penn
Irving Penn
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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