With a career in magazines that spanned the mid-20th century heyday of print journalism and lasted through the first decade of the 21st, Irving Penn was the preeminent photographer for six decades at Vogue, where he worked right up until his death, in 2009, at age 92.
Penn’s refined and dynamic photography of models, celebrities and products like Clinique and Jell-O pudding, all shot in compositions of stunning equipoise in the cool remove of his minimal studio setups, were designed to stop traffic and cut through the clutter of magazine pages.
Penn flourished under the mentorship of two legendary art directors: Harper’s Bazaar‘s Alexey Brodovitch and Vogue‘s Alexander Liberman, both Russian émigrés like Penn’s father. Brodovitch introduced Penn to Surrealism and avant-garde photography as his teacher at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art and hired him as his assistant at Harper’s Bazaar during the summers of 1937 and ’38. Penn bought his first camera after graduating that year. He met Liberman in 1941, passing off to the recent New York transplant his freelance art director job at Saks Fifth Avenue. Liberman returned the favor by hiring Penn at Vogue in 1943 to sketch cover concepts, later encouraging him to shoot his unconventional juxtapositions of accessories and household items himself.
Assigned to photograph some portraits in the mid-1940s, Penn took a cue from the stage-set windows at Saks. He angled two studio flats in his studio and placed his subjects, including Truman Capote, Jerome Robbins and Salvador Dalí, in the resulting tight corner, literally and psychologically. Spencer Tracy leans jauntily against the walls in his portrait, while Georgia O'Keeffe simmers straight-armed in her confinement.
Penn didn’t work well with the distractions of the outside world. In 1950, when he was instructed by Liberman to buy an evening jacket and shoot the couture shows in Paris, he managed the assignment by having the dresses brought to him. He rented a top-floor studio with great light but no electricity and photographed models, including Lisa Fonssagrives (whom he married shortly after), against a mottled gray theater curtain that he continued to use for the rest of his career. Between deliveries from Dior and Balenciaga, he began his personal project “Small Trades,” in which he had local Parisians — a knife grinder, a mailman, a cucumber seller — pose for him with tools of their trade against the same backdrop. (He extended the series in London and New York.)
While Penn made bold, reductive still lifes for advertising campaigns throughout his career, in 1972 he applied his sculptural understanding of form to the unlikeliest of subjects: cigarette butts he gathered from the streets. The Museum of Modern Art showed Penn’s cigarette butts in 1975, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibited another series of material salvaged from the street in 1977. At this time, Penn also began revisiting his earlier photographs, reprinting them at larger scale and with the more painterly quality achieved with the platinum-palladium process. In his lush, oversized platinum-palladium prints, he elevates the lowly castoffs to heroic objects worthy of archaeological scrutiny.
Find vintage Irving Penn photography on 1stDibs.
$4,900Sale Price|67% Off
Untitled (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn) (~67% OFF - LIMITED TIME ONLY)
By Irving Penn
Located in Kansas City, MO
Irving Penn Title: Untitled (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn) Medium: Glossy, fibre based paper Date: New York, circa 1949 Dimensions: 11 x 14 inches Stamped ...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
$41,600Sale Price|25% Off
Nude No. 57 Silver Gelatin Print, Signed, Circa 1949, Edition of 12
By Irving Penn
Located in Miami, FL
The work is elegantly framed in a high-end modern frame with archival matting. 1 of no more than 12, each print differs somewhat from the others Negative and print made 1949-1950 I....
Silver Gelatin
Still life with Watermelon, NY
By Irving Penn
Located in Miami, FL
Phillips de Pury Collection of Alain Dominique Perrin Printed 1985, One from an edition of 21 dye transfer prints Signed Irving Penn Verso Literature: Szarkowki, Irving Penn Irving...
Dye Transfer
Still life with Watermelon, NY
By Irving Penn
Located in Miami, FL
Phillips de Pury Collection of Alain Dominique Perrin Printed 1985, One from an edition of 21 dye transfer prints Signed Irving Penn Verso Literature: Szarkowki, Irving Penn Irving...
Dye Transfer
$32,000Sale Price|20% Off
Still Life with Mouse, New York
By Irving Penn
Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Signed, titled, dated and copyrighted 1983 on back of print. Stamped, 'Signed silver print of this negative not exceeding' and 78 written in pencil on back of print. Annotated, 'Copy...
Silver Gelatin
$10,000Sale Price|20% Off
Two Men in White Masks, Cuzco
By Irving Penn
Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Printed in 1984. Signed, titled, dated, artist’s copyright on back of mount. Stamped ‘signed silver prints not exceeding,’ 20 written in pencil. Annotated, “Rives BFK mount’ and ‘ton...
Silver Gelatin
$22,000
Pagoda
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
Pagoda 1975 Signed, titled, dated, and numbered in pencil, verso Platinum print (Edition of 49) 10 x 7.5 inches, image This platinum print is from the “Street Materials Series.” ...
Platinum
Price Upon Request
New York Still Life
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
New York Still Life, 1947/April 1980 Signed, titled, dated, numbered, and inscribed in pencil, verso Platinum-palladium print on Rives paper mo...
Platinum
![Mermaid Dress (Rochas) [Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn], Paris](https://a.1stdibscdn.com/irving-penn-photography-mermaid-dress-rochas-lisa-fonssagrives-penn-paris-for-sale/a_9323/1615324844586/Penn_Mermaid_Dress_1200_master.jpg?width=240)
![Mermaid Dress (Rochas) [Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn], Paris](https://a.1stdibscdn.com/irving-penn-photography-mermaid-dress-rochas-lisa-fonssagrives-penn-paris-for-sale-picture-2/a_9323/1615324841757/Penn_Mermaid_Dress_framed_1200_master.jpg?width=240)
Price Upon Request
Mermaid Dress (Rochas) [Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn], Paris
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
Mermaid Dress (Rochas) [Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn], Paris, 1950/June 1979 Signed, titled, dated, numbered, and inscribed in pencil, verso Platinum-pallad...
Platinum
Price Upon Request
Joan Miró
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
Signed, verso Various copyright and studio stamps, verso Vintage gelatin silver print This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City.
Silver Gelatin
Price Upon Request
Dior Kerchief and Glove, Paris
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
This photograph is an Edition of 9 and is signed by the photographer.
Silver Gelatin
Cranston Richie
By Ralph Eugene Meatyard
Located in New York, NY
From a portfolio of ten gelatin silver prints from original Meatyard negatives (1959-71) Printed April 1974 Edition of 130 Credit stamp, verso 7 x 7 inches, image 15 x 12 inches, mount This photograph is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. “This image probably owes some of its inspiration to the abnormal characters in the stories of Flannery O’Connor’s 1955 collection, "A Good Man is Hard to Find." But Meatyard was also looking at Giorgio de Chirico and the European Surrealists and here employs their penchant for the lifeless mannequin figure. A headless dressmaker’s dummy...
Silver Gelatin
Audrey Hepburn in Pool, 1966 by Terry O'Neill
By Terry O'Neill
Located in Chicago, IL
Audrey Hepburn having a swim during a break from filming Stanley Donen’s 1967 work ‘Two for the Road’ in St Tropez. Limited edition silver gelatin print Paper size: 16 H x 20 W inc...
Silver Gelatin
Untitled Portrait
By Seydou Keïta
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes framing with UV Plexi ($900 value), free shipping, and a 14-day return policy. Seydou Keïta Untitled Portrait, 1952 - 1955 (02158) 23...
Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Terry O'Neill 'Sean Connery as Bond' (Sheriff)
By Terry O'Neill
Located in New York, NY
Terry O'Neill Sean Connery as Bond 1971 (printed later) silver gelatin print 20 x 16 inches Estate signature stamped and numbered edition of 50 with certificate of authenticity Scot...
Silver Gelatin
$5,000
H 11 in W 14 in
Eve Babitz and Marcel Duchamp playing chess during Duchamp's Pasadena Art Museum
By Julian Wasser
Located in New York, NY
Listing is for an unframed print and includes free shipping to the continental US and 14-day return policy. Julian Wasser Eve Babitz and Marcel Duchamp pl...
Silver Gelatin, Photographic Paper
$250
H 7.49 in W 9.49 in
Yesteryear's Wire Walker (Unidentified) – original circus photograph, 1950s
Located in Middletown, NY
Gelatin silver print mounted on board, 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (190 x 241 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
$1,340
H 30 in W 40 in
Spectator Tennis (1938) Silver Gelatin Fibre Print - Oversized
By H. Armstrong Roberts
Located in London, GB
Spectator Tennis (1938) Silver Gelatin Fibre Print - Oversized (Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts/Alamy) 1st December 1938. Spectators watching a tennis match at a country club. Addi...
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
He Exudes a Powerful Fragrance Like Horses Do
By Bill Costa
Located in New York, NY
Gelatin silver print (Edition of 5) Signed and numbered, verso This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City.
Silver Gelatin
steve - ritual
By Frank Yamrus
Located in New York, NY
Gelatin silver print Signed, dated, and numbered, verso 10 x 8 inches, sheet 7 x 7 inches, image (Edition of 10) 14 x 11 inches, sheet 10 x 10 inches, image (Edition of 10) 20 x 1...
Silver Gelatin
$850
H 11 in W 14 in
Vintage Silver Gelatin Photograph Print, Girls on a Beach Photo, Two Man Show
Located in Surfside, FL
Richard Lebowitz, b. 1937, American, (RISD Faculty 1964-1995, Photography; Professor Emeritus) Tom Young, b. 1951, American, (RISD MFA 1977, Photography) TIT...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Joan Didion, Hollywood, 1968 (Frame 33a.)
By Julian Wasser
Located in New York, NY
This is a limited edition 16 x 20 inch print of Joan Didion by photographer Julian Wasser shot for her iconic interview with TIME in 1968. Listing includes free shipping to the continental US and a 14-day return policy. Please inquire for framing options or international shipments. We offer framing services through our New York location. Joan Didion by Julian Wasser Gelatin Silver Print Paper Size: 16 x 20 inches Image Size: 11.5 x 17.5 inches Edition 9 of 15 Signed and on the back by Julian Wasser and editioned on adhesive certificate History Behind the Photograph - Julian Wasser started his career in photography in the Washington DC bureau of the Associated Press where he met and accompanied the famous news photographer Weegee – who would become a lasting influence on him. In the mid-60s Wasser moved to Los Angeles as a contract photographer for TIME, LIFE, and FORTUNE magazines and becoming internationally known as the go to guy for getting candid but memorably composed photographs. (His iconic images of Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston; Marcel Duchamp and Eve Babitz...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Toile, New York
By Patricia Heal
Located in Hudson, NY
Edition # 1/10 This is the framed, type 55 pos/neg gelatin silver print. Additional unframed paper sizes are available. Finding Peabrook- 2014 Veteran artist Patricia Heal documen...
Silver Gelatin
Pear with Seeds
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
Pear with Seeds, June 1993/November 1993-February 1994 Signed, titled, dated, numbered, and inscribed in pencil, verso Platinum-palladium print on Rives paper mounted to aluminum ...
Platinum
Nude No 19 (Cropped)
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
Irving Penn Nude No 19 (Cropped), 1949-1950 Vintage gelatin silver print 20 × 15 7/8 in.
Silver Gelatin
Nude No 81 (Variant)
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
Irving Penn Nude No 81 (Variant) (1949 -1950) Vintage gelatin silver print 19 15/16 × 15 3/4 in.
Silver Gelatin
Girl Sitting (Cameroon), 1974
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
Irving Penn Girl Sitting (Cameroon), 1974, Printed November 1978 Platinum Palladium Print 20 x 20 inches Signed and numbered edition of 40 addition...
Platinum
Five Moroccan Women
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
IRVING PENN Five Moroccan Women, 1971 Platinum palladium print, printed 1979. 20 1/8 x 19 3/4 in. (51.1 x 50.2 cm) Signed, titled, dated, numbered ...
Platinum
Nude No 56 (Variant)
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
Nude No 56 (Variant), 1949-1950, printed 1980 Vintage gelatin silver print paper: 19 7/8 × 15 7/8 in Image: 15 3/4 x 15 3/16 Signed and numbered edition of 17
Silver Gelatin
New Guinea man with Painted-on Glasses
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
Irving Penn New Guinea man with Painted-on Glasses, 1970, Printed April 1979 Platinum Palladium Print 20 x 20 in Signed and numbered edition of 50
Platinum
Nude
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
Irving Penn Nude No 141 (Variant), 1949-50, Printed 1980 Silver Gelatin Print Sheet: 19 15/16 x 15 3/4 Image: 15 5/8 x 14 3/4 Signed and numbered edition of 15 Please inquire...
Silver Gelatin
Callot Swallow-tail Dress
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
Irving Penn (1917-2009) Callot Swallow-tail Dress, 1974 platinum-palladium print, printed 1978 signed, titled, dated, numbered edition of 19', in pencil, 20 x 20 inches
Platinum
Sculptors Model
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
Sculptors Model, Paris 1950 platinum-palladium print, printed 1960 signed, titled, dated in pencil on verso ed 35 print size 18.5 x 11.5 inches paper size 22.25 x 17.75 inches ...
Photographic Paper
Football Face, New York
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
Photographer Irving Penn (American, 1917–2009) is celebrated for his compelling portraits, scenes, and still lifes, in genres ranging from fashion to travel photography. Born in Plai...
Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I, New York
By Irving Penn
Located in New York, NY
Photographer Irving Penn (American, 1917–2009) is celebrated for his compelling portraits, scenes, and still lifes, in genres ranging from fashion to travel photography. Born in Plai...