Irving Penn

D.O.B- 16/06/1917

Place of birth- Plainfield, New Jersey, America

D.O.D- 07/10/2009

Place of death- Manhattan, New York, America

Occupation- Photographer

• Born into a Russian Jewish family.
• Penn worked for 2 years a freelance designer and began taking amateur photographs.
• He became the director of art at Saks Fifth Avenue in 1940.
• Traveled America and Mexico taking photos and painting.He became an associate for Vogue magazine's art department after he had finished his travels.
• He was well known for his work in fashion photography as well as modernist still lives and documentary travel journals.
• He has had over 30 exhibitions.
• He believed that anything could be art and was quoted as saying that "Photographing cake can be art".

Examples of work:

Penn photographed a variety of different subjects through different categories of photography however the majority of his work falls into the genre of the surreal with his work generally being black and white.  He also uses a great deal of low-key lighting to create depth and mystery in his images.

Portrait

This image interesting due to it's use of strong tonal range between the black of the face paint and the subjects paler skin in order to create and strong contrast, the contrast is amplified by the fact that this image is in black and white.  The face paint has connotations of tribal groups which when accompanied by the screaming expression on the subjects face carries connotations of violence.

The unnatural positioning of the subjects neck creates a surreal aspect to the image and the strange position of the subject in the corner of corridor knelt on a chair adds to this idea.  The black and white colouration of the image amplifies the surreal aspect of the image.

Still life

The strong tonal range of this image is created the employment of shadows around the skull when combined with the highlights where the light hit's the skull and the white of the background of the image.  The skull iconography creates a macabre connotation and links the image to death.

Influence on my work

Penn has influenced my work by exposing me to surreal and macabre themes which are something that I would like to explore further.