IRVING PENN

Enga Woman and Two Young Girls, New Guinea, 1970

21-1/2x19 Platinum Palladium Photograph, Edition 5

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Irving Penn: Ethnographic

December 8, 2005 through January 21, 2006
Opening Reception Thursday, December 15, 7 - 9 PM

The Fahey/Klein Gallery is proud to present the work of celebrated photographer, Irving Penn. The Ethnographic exhibition features Penn's unique portraits of tribal civilizations gathered throughout his travels in Peru, Africa, and New Guinea. From the 1940s through the late 1980s, Penn journeyed to remote locations with his portable studio where he captured the authentic beauty of the tribal costume and aboriginal family. Penn's ethnographic studies force the viewer to look at the humanity of the primeval human in a world of encroaching civilization. "These remarkable strangers would come to me and place themselves in front of my camera, and in this clear north sky light I would make records of their physical presence. The pictures would survive us both, and at least to that extent something of their already dissolving cultures would be preserved forever" (Irving Penn, Worlds in a Small Room). Ethnographic reveals the diverse cultures that captivated Penn and emphasizes his unparalleled mastery of the photographic medium in this exhibition of Silver Gelatin and Platinum Palladium photographs.

As one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century, Penn's work has left an indelible mark in almost every genre of photography: fashion, portraiture, nudes, still life, advertising, and ethnographic studies. Beyond his artistic and commercial contributions, Penn's understanding and experimentation of the Platinum printing process surpasses all others. Meticulously hand coating each sheet himself, Penn exposes the platinum coated paper to a series of negatives designed to give the best depth and richness to the print. Producing an image that meets his exacting standards is a time-consuming process of experimentation. Although there is a highly technical aspect to this process, the prints themselves always have a quality far and beyond the physical materials of which they are made. Penn's Platinum photographs are exquisite objects d'art prized for their subtle, rich tonal ranges and luxurious textures. "Those who know Penn's work only from reproductions in books and magazines will have little idea of the impact of his work in the original; his prints have a monumentality, clarity, and sensitivity to tonality that are uniquely his" (Elizabeth Broun, Master Images).

Irving Penn was born in Plainfield, New Jersey on June 16, 1917. He studied design under Alexy Brodovitch at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art from 1934 through 1938. In 1938, Penn moved to New York City and worked as a photographer for Vogue, where Alexander Liberman was Art Director. Since 1946, Penn has also photographed for numerous other magazines and commercial clients as well and has contributed too countless book publications. Irving Penn's books include but are not limited to: Moments Preserved (Simon and Schuster, 1960), Worlds in a Small Room (Penguin Books, 1974), Flowers (Harmony Books, 1980), Passage (Alfred A. Knopf, 1991), Irving Penn, A Career in Photography (Art Institute of Chicago Press, 1997), Still Life (Bulfinch Press, 2001), A Notebook at Random (Bulfinch Press, 2004), and Irving Penn Penn: Platinum Prints (National Gallery of Art, 2005). Irving Penn lives and continues to work in New York.