Irving Penn was born in 1917 in Plainfield, New Jersey. Penn attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Arts and was taught the application of principles of modern art and design by Alexey Brodovitch in his Design Laboratory. Penn later went to Paris while working for Vogue and met a model that he married in 1950. From 1964 to 1971, Penn traveled to Japan, Crete, Spain, Dahomey, Nepal, Cameroon, New Guinea, and Morocco to improve his photography. Later in his life, Penn opened a studio in New York City and had the freedom to paint and do many different types of photography.
Style
Penn is known for breaking down the boundary between commercial and fine-art photography. His style is “refined, elegant minimalism.” He liked to remove distractions from his photos and focus only on the model. Because of this, the backgrounds of his photographs were often bare. Penn also used a second style, photographing celebrities very close up to their faces. He would photograph only one’s mouth or eye while keeping the bare background that he has always done.
Philosophy
Penn believed that photography should be “effective.” It should touch the viewer's heart and leave them a changed person. Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue, believes he “changed the way people saw the world and our perception of what is beautiful.” He was also always trying to excite and entertain the viewer. He thought of his photographs as an open-ended story that the viewer can finish themselves.
Influences
Penn’s simple photography has influenced some of the photos I’ve taken. I like the way he focuses on one thing and gets rid of all other distractions. It makes the photo more meaningful to the focus, which is another thing I like about Penn. He always takes photos with intention behind them, making for much better photos. I have been trying to implement the same ideas when taking pictures recently.
Compare and Contrast
The Empty Plate (Penn)
Wiped Clean
This photo was the easiest to take. I had everything I needed to recreate this photo and it came out great. I couldn't get the background to be exactly the same as Penn's photo, but it is pretty close.
Doorway Sign (Penn)
Wrapped Up
This one was a little difficult to recreate. I used rope instead of the string that Penn used in his photo because it was all I had. I also didn't have the same exact glove, but I used one of our many winter gloves for this photo. The fingers on my glove aren't as long as the ones on Penn's glove, so it doesn't look super similar.
"Huile Pitcher" (Penn)
Modern Pitcher
I tried to get as neutral a background as I could, but it still doesn't compare to Penn's photo. I positioned the pitcher in the same way as Penn, but mine doesn't have the "Huile" on it. I also made this photo black and white to make it as similar as possible to Penn's.
Artist Statement
I enjoyed taking these pictures. Most of Penn's photos are very difficult to recreate. I didn't have the materials to recreate many of the photos on his website, so I chose to do still life photos. My first photo (Wiped Clean) represents the joy of eating a good meal and wiping it clean. The second photo (wrapped up) shows the glove with the pinky and index finger pointed out which represents relaxation. The third photo (Modern Pitcher) shows the advancements of everyday items such as pitchers.