Irving Penn - Photographs & Helmut Newton: Provocateur London Thursday, May 16, 2024 | Phillips

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  • “A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective.”
    —Irving Penn

    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 present work, remain some of the most timeless, indelible photographs of the famed jazz musician and earned Ishioka the 1987 Grammy Award for Best Album Package.  

     

    On this shoot, Penn reminisced: 

      

    I tried to talk to [Davis] when he walked in, but he completely ignored me. Once [he] had finished primping, he stepped in front of the camera.  

     

    ‘I bet you want me to take this shirt off?’ 

    ‘Yep,’ I replied.  

    ‘I bet you want me to take all these gold chains off, too?’ 

    ‘Yep,’ I said again.  

    Then, for about an hour, we went to work. At the end, I said, ‘Thank you very much.’ 

     

    He got up, came over to me, and kissed me on the mouth. I didn’t know what to say. We shook hands, and he left. Later, I got the chance to know his music, and it struck me as being visual art of a most profound kind. How terrible I couldn’t share that with him then.

    • Provenance

      Hamiltons Gallery, London
      Private Collection, London
      Phillips, London, Photographs, 17 May 2012, lot 106

    • Literature

      I. Penn, Passage: A Work Record, New York: Knopf, 1991, p. 259 (variant)
      C. Westerbeck, Irving Penn: A Career in Photography, London: Bulfinch, 1997, p. 78 (variant)
      I. Penn, A Notebook at Random, New York: Bulfinch, 2004, p. 70
      Irving Penn: Centennial, New York: MoMA, 2017, pl. 71, p. 191 (variant)

    • 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

58

The Palm of Miles Davis, New York

1986
Selenium-toned gelatin silver print, printed 1992, mounted.
49.4 x 49.2 cm (19 1/2 x 19 3/8 in.)
Signed, titled, dated, annotated in ink, copyright credit reproduction limitation and edition stamps on the reverse of the mount. One from an edition of 9.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£40,000 - 60,000 

Sold for £152,400

Contact Specialist

Rachel Peart
Head of Department, London
RPeart@phillips.com
 

Yuka Yamaji
Head of Photographs, Europe
YYamaji@phillips.com
 

General Inquiries
+44 20 7318 4092

Photographs & Helmut Newton: Provocateur

London Auction 16 May 2024