Irving Penn
Irving Penn, Audrey Hepburn, Paris, 1951. Gelatin silver print, 13 3/4 x 13 7/16 in. (35 x 34.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation, 2021, 2021.72.5. © Condé Nast
Irving Penn is widely recognized as one of the 20th century’s greatest photographers. Vogue’s longest-standing contributor, Penn revolutionized fashion photography in the postwar era. Using neutral backgrounds, he emphasized models’ personalities through their gestures and expressions. The exhibition includes approximately 175 photographs, spanning every period of Penn’s nearly 70-year career. The works range from early documentary scenes, celebrity portraits, and workers with the tools of their trades to abstract nudes and fashion studies. A special section of images from San Francisco’s Summer of Love features hippies, members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, and local rock bands the Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Exhibition preview
In the news
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Mark Holgate, Vogue
A reminder — should we need it — of his enduring genius.
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Tony Bravo, San Francisco Chronicle
A must-see for photography fans or for anyone who wants to see an intimate view of the personalities he captured.
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Bruce Handy, Vanity Fair
Bold, graphic, sensuous, witty, refined.
Stories
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Irving Penn + Issey Miyake: Design Meets Photography
An interview on the photographer and designer’s collaboration over 13 years and 250+ garments.
By Cawaii Factory, in conversation with Midori Kitamura, chairperson of the Miyake Design Studio and the Miyake Issey Foundation
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Irving Penn’s New Guinea Man with Painted-On Glasses
What does this warrior’s body decoration indicate?
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Irving Penn and the Summer of Love
Photographs of hippies, Hells Angels, and rock bands.
By Emma Acker, curator, American art
More info
Sponsors
Lead Sponsors
John Pritzker Family Fund
Major Support
The Bernard Osher Foundation
Michael Taylor Trust
Significant Support
Dagmar Dolby
Jason E. Moment
The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in collaboration with The Irving Penn Foundation, and in association with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Currently on view
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Closing soon
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Opening soon