IRVING PENN : SMALL TRADES

5 Mar-24 Apr 2010

Overview

The format, similar throughout - whether the sitter is a butcher, fishmonger or chimney sweep, is full length, frontal and invariably standing. Penn has created masterful representations of skilled trades people dressed in work clothes, with markers of their occupation. A neutral backdrop, often an old theatre curtain, and natural light set the stage on which his subjects present themselves – an atmospheric ‘visual nowhere’ that Penn was instrumental in popularising as a staple of fashion photography. John Szarkowski, former director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art, commented that Penn’s portraits claimed people were interesting enough they did not need to be photographed with the support of a glamorous backdrop.