Irving Penn - Photographs New York Monday, April 9, 2018 | Phillips

Photographs

New York Auction 9 April 2018

  • Provenance

    Acquired directly from the artist

  • Catalogue Essay

    In 1986 Irving Penn was hired by Warner Brothers Records to photograph Miles Davis for his new album Tutu. With art direction by Eiko Ishioka, the resulting album portraits—including the isolated hand, the frontal close-up and the present image—remain some of the most iconic photographs of the famed jazz musician and earned Ishioka the 1987 Grammy Award for Best Album Package. This print was one of the dozen assorted prints of the 3 images that Penn made for the music executives involved in the album's release and thus precedes the 1991 edition of 12.

  • 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. 

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181

Irving Penn

Miles Davis, New York, July 1

1986
Selenium toned gelatin silver print.
14 3/4 x 14 3/4 in. (37.5 x 37.5 cm)
Signed, titled, dated, annotated in ink, copyright credit reproduction limitation and credit stamps on the reverse of the mount.

Estimate
$25,000 - 35,000 

Sold for $47,500

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Photographs

New York Auction 9 April 2018