Irving Penn Acquisition of Irving Penn's Photographs

Congratulations to the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) in Paris for acquiring 46 iconic works by Irving Penn — one of the twentieth century’s most important photographers, respected equally in the fields of fashion, portraiture and still-life. 

This landmark acquisition of works—selected jointly by the MEP team and The Irving Penn Foundation — will complete the institution’s collection resulting in a comprehensive and holistic overview of Penn’s work and career comprising 109 works from 1939- 2007.

The acquisition comprises 26 gelatin silver prints; 11 hand-coated platinum-palladium prints, which demonstrating Penn’s mastery in texture and contrast achieved over a lifetime of technical and artistic experimentation; and 9 color works, including rare Dye-Transfer prints, Cibachromes, as well as chromogenic prints and Penn’s unique digital inkjet prints.

One of the acquired works by the MEP is Irving Penn’s “Chevrier”, Paris, 1950, as part of the ground-breaking series of photographs depicting representatives of the Small Trades that Penn achieved in 1950–51 in Paris, London, and New York.