Still Life : Irving Penn Photographs 1938-2000 - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0500542481 ISBN 13: 9780500542484

Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd

Synopsis

From his innovative and ongoing work for the editorial pages of Vogue magazine to the harsher personal work of his later years, which explores the visual intrigue of such inconsquential objects as litter, bones and cigarette butts, his work has a wit, simplicity and edginess that sets it apart. John Szarkowski, in his introductory essay, notes that 'for more than forty years Penn's pictures celebrated the pleasures of this life, even while always acknowledging the worm in the apple...Some of his more recent still lifes seem in contrast to have less to do with pleasure than with something like cultural reportage'. Irving Penn has personally overseen every detail of this elegant book's design and production. An extraordinary effort has been made to create on the printed page reproductions that have a fidelity to the briliance of the colour images and the nuances and subtlety of the platinum prints.

About this title

About the Author:

In a career of more than sixty years, Irving Penn has created an extensive and influential body of work in portraiture, fashion and still life. John Szarkowski is Director Emeritus of the Department of Photography, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Among his many books is a collection of his own photographs, the classic The Idea of Louis Sullivan, also published by Thames & Hudson.

From Library Journal:

Penn is notable for gathering things in clumps and patterns and photographing them something he has been doing for 60 years. His boldness and bravado have led to a new notion of what constitutes a still life. This book, introduced by John Szarkowski, director emeritus of the department of photography at MOMA, does a very good job of revealing both Penn's lens and his psyche, which can be off-putting. Yes, it is possible to merge a perfect overhead view of a huge bumblebee and the perfectly sensual mouth of a well-lipsticked woman, but really who wants to see a big, menacing bee roaming on human teeth and lips? One expects that Penn will someday take his camera into the operating room and place something a Lego toy, handgun, or tarantula on a pancreas open for inspection during surgery. The artist seems to want us to think that because something exists, it looks pretty nifty when photographed with the skill used to make fashion magazines sizzle. Still, Penn is a camera master, yielding technically perfect images and tossing wet blankets at the common still life of fruit or flowers. The first book to focus exclusively on his still lifes, this will introduce Penn's art to new viewers. It gives photographers seeking new ways to work much to ponder. David Bryant, New Canaan Lib., CT
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd
• ISBN 10: 0500542481
• ISBN 13: 9780500542484
• Binding: Hardcover