A collection of thirty photographs by Irving Penn featuring actors, intellectuals, and other notable figures from his time.

Presents a catalog of an exhibition of photographs focusing on blue collar workers.

Irving Penn is one of the leading photographers of the 20th century. His elegant and innovative photographs are the subject of this volume. It includes some 200 images.

Irving Penn (1917-2009) was among the most esteemed and influential photographers of the twentieth century. Over the course of a nearly seventy-year career, he mastered a pared-down aesthetic of studio photography that is distinguished for its meticulous attention to composition, nuance, and detail. This indispensable book features one of the largest selections of Penn's photographers ever compiled–nearly 300 in all–including famous and beloved images as well as works that have never been published. Celebrating the centennial of Penn's birth, this lavish volume spans the entirety of his groundbreaking career. An enlightening introduction situates his work in the context of the various artistic, social, and political environments and events that affected the content of his photographs. Lively essays acquaint readers with Penn's primary subjects and campaigns, including early documentary scenes and imagery; portraits of cultural figures and celebrities; fashion; female nudes; peoples of Peru, Dahomey (Benin), New Guinea, and Morocco; and still lifes. Rounding out the book are discussions of Penn's advertising pictures and his painstaking printing processes, as well as an illustrated chronology. Irving Penn: Centennialis essential for any fan of this artist's work or of the history of twentieth-century photography.

One of the most distinguished practitioners of portrait and fashion photography of the mid-twentieth century, Irving Penn's work is identified by its refinement of craft, by the wit and grace of its formal invention, and by its sensitivity to the quality and character of light. Backed by Vogue magazine, Penn brought a classic economy and concentration to the overblown world of fashion photography, to portraits of artists, writers, and theater people, and to ethnographic studies of style and ornament in little-known corners of West Africa, Nepal, Peru, and New Guinea. This book, published in conjunction with an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, is the first comprehensive retrospective of Penn's work. The essay by John Szarkowski follows a brilliant career, from its art-school beginnings to the provocative still lifes, photographs of cigarette butts and street detritus--works of eloquence and classical rectitude, made from the least consequential of subject matter.--From publisher description.

An accessible overview of the work of legendary American photographer Irving Penn Famous for his fashion portraits and experimentation with still life images, Irving Penn (1917-2009) ranks as one of the foremost photographers of the 20th century. In an illustrious career that spanned nearly 70 years, Penn was a master of both black-and-white and color photography, and his revival of platinum printing in the 1960s and 1970s was a catalyst for significant change in the art world. Drawing from the extensive holdings of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, including a major gift from The Irving Penn Foundation, this magnificent catalogue compiles 161 of Penn's iconic images, including a number of unpublished works. Beautifully designed and illustrated, Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty accompanies the first retrospective exhibition of Penn's work in nearly 20 years and features photographs from all stages of his career, including street scenes from the late 1930s, celebrity portraits, Parisian fashion photographs, and more private studio images. Merry A. Foresta's captivating essay introduces this photographer to a younger generation and delves into Penn's use of photography to respond to social and cultural change, speaking to the depths of human existence. Distributed for the Smithsonian American Art Museum in association with The Irving Penn Foundation Exhibition Schedule: Smithsonian American Art Museum (10/23/15-03/20/16) Dallas Museum of Art (04/15/16-08/14/16) Lesley University, College of Art and Design, Cambridge, MA (09/10/16-12/16/16) Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN (02/24/17-05/21/17) Wichita Art Museum (09/30/17-01/07/18)

Trained as an artist, Irving Penn began photographing for "Vogue" in the 1940s--and went on to become one of the most versatile and accomplished image-makers of the last 50 years. His photographs have become documents of the century, from his portraits of native peoples to his gravity defying still lifes of Clinque cosmetics. This landmark retrospective showcases 90 of Penn's standout images.