NYAB Event - Irving Penn "Archæology"

Irving Penn "Archæology"

Pace MacGill

This event has ended.

Pace/MacGill Gallery presents Irving Penn: Archæology, featuring over twenty platinum still lifes made between 1979 and 1980. One of the most prolific and respected photographers of the twentieth century, Irving Penn (1917-2009) is recognized for his six-decade career consisting of commercial, editorial and personal work. Whether an innovative fashion image, striking portrait or compelling still life, each of Penn’s pictures bears his trademark style of elegant aesthetic simplicity.

The photographs on view comprise what Penn deemed his “AR” or Archaeology material, and have not been seen extensively or considered carefully in recent years. The exhibition marks Penn’s thirteenth solo show at the gallery and is accompanied by a catalogue with an essay by Dr. Colin Eisler, Robert Lehman Professor of Fine Arts at New York University. An exhibition preview will be held on Wednesday, October 27th.
A distinguished practitioner of the still life, Penn embraced the genre from the outset of his photographic career. His first foray was published on the cover of Vogue Magazine at the suggestion of Condé Nast art director Alexander Liberman in October 1943, and by 1947, Penn was producing a multitude of editorial still lifes for the printed page. In the early 1970s, however, Penn progressively dedicated more time to his private, uncommissioned work in which he abandoned the lavish elements of his magazine still lifes to make clear, powerful pictures of unexpected miscellaneous detritus.
Penn’s archaeology pictures investigate the visual intrigue of seemingly inconsequential debris and junk
-- plumbing fittings, steel fragments, bolts and bones -- in the exquisitely executed medium of platinum. Dedicated to the art of meticulously handcrafted prints, Penn is reputed to have spent nearly 50 hours on the production of a single platinum print.

Penn’s photography has been the subject of numerous exhibitions worldwide. Recent exhibitions include Irving Penn: Small Trades at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (2009-2010) and Irving Penn Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, London (2010). His work can be found in both domestic and international museum collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago; Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Moderna Museet, Stockholm; the Morgan Library and Museum, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.