Influential fashion photographer Irving Penn, known for his elegant, minimalist portraits, died on October 7. He was 92.
Penn was long associated with Vogue magazine, where he first began working in the 1940s and won renown for his calm, classical compositions.
He died at home in New York, said a representative for Pace/MacGill Gallery, which represents Penn’s work.
Although he was most famous for photographs of glamorous models — including a black-and-white, nude Gisele Bundchen — he brought the same graceful simplicity and accuracy to pictures of Peruvian peasants or New Guinea tribesmen.
”Instead of spontaneity, Mr Penn provided the illusion of a seance, his gaze precisely describing the profile of a Balenciaga coat or of a Moroccan djellaba in a way that could almost mesmerise the viewer,” the New York Times said in an obituary.
”Nothing escaped the edges of his photographs unless he commanded it.”
His photographs regularly fetch tens of thousands of dollars under the hammer. An auction scheduled at Christie’s in New York on Thursday was to feature about 15 prints by Penn. – AFP
