Irving Penn photo retrospective on display at The Smithsonian

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Nov 8, 2015

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is currently showing the Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty exhibit featuring the works of photographer, Irving Penn.

The Irving Penn exhibit is the first retrospective of Penn’s work in nearly 20 years. The exhibit displays street scenes from the late 1930s, photos of the American south from the 1940s, celebrity portraits, fashion photographs, still life images and private studio images.
 
146 photographs from the museum’s permanent collection are on display including 100 debut photos that were recently donated to the museum by the Irving Penn Foundation like Super 8mm films of Penn in Morocco that were made by wife, Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn.

Penn was born in 1917, and had a career that spanned nearly 70 years. He was one of the first photographers to bridge the gap between art and fashion. His fashion, portrait and still life images have appeared in Vogue and have defined elegance in the 1950s.
 
Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty will remain on view at The Smithsonian through March 20, 2016.