Framed in my living room is a poster from a 1997 Irving Penn exhibit in Denmark. Pictured is Penn’s wife and muse, Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, sitting for tea in Morocco—one of my all-time favorite portraits. In 2017, the late American photographer would have celebrated his 100th birthday, and this month, his 70 year career is being celebrated in an exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (check out the gorgeous book here). Included among the more than 200 pictures are Penn’s portraits (Picasso, Capote, Deitrich, and more), flower studies, and nudes. Below, are some of my favorite shots from the exhibit. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to google flights to New York…!
I just saw it on Friday! I’ve been excited about it for months, and it was certainly worth the wait. Such a remarkable and stunning collection of his work- definitely worth the booking of a trans-continental flight;)
It’s a great exhibit — big, but well curated. I especially liked seeing his still lifes and earlier portraits, like that one of Truman Capote. (The series that those came from was really neat.) If you (or one of your readers) goes to check it out, there’s a lovely Seurat exhibit going on too!