SERIES IX: PERSONAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
In a career that lasted nearly seven decades, Irving Penn emerged as one of the most important fashion and portrait photographers of the 20th century, yet surprisingly little is known about his early years. This album from about 1937–42 documents the formative period immediately following his studies with magazine art director Alexey Brodovitch at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art to his hiring by Alexander Liberman at Vogue in New York. It includes artistic experiments and scenes from Penn’s travels through the American South and Mexico with his first wife, Nonny Gardner, alongside snapshots of friends and family. Penn’s use of neutral backgrounds, his inclusion of detritus in still lifes, and his precision in layout all presage what would become hallmarks in a long, distinguished career.