Irving Penn
(1917-2009), PhotographerArtist of 30 portraits
Penn studied at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art. He worked as art director of the department store Saks Fifth Avenue and spent a year painting in Mexico before joining the staff of Vogue in 1943 where, on the suggestion of its art director, Alexander Lieberman, he started working as a photographer. The following year he joined the U.S. Field Service on ambulance duty, and served with the British Army in Italy and India. After the war Penn returned immediately to Vogue, making fashion pictures, still lives, portraits and theatrical compositions. From 1953 he also worked from his own studio. Penn won many awards and his pictures are in numerous museums and permanent collections.
More on Irving Penn: Timeline
by Irving Penn
gelatin silver print, 1958
NPG P1397
Arnold Joseph Toynbee; Philip Toynbee
by Irving Penn
gelatin silver print, 1958
NPG P1399
by Irving Penn
bromide silver print, 1947
NPG x40470
by Irving Penn
gelatin silver print, 1950
NPG x199795
by Irving Penn
glossy unglazed bromide silver print, 1951
NPG x40469
David Terence Puttnam, Baron Puttnam
by Irving Penn
bromide print, 1978
NPG x34561
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