Irving Penn: Jessica Aicholtz

Irving Penn was a very minimalistic photographer. His photographs of fashion and the famous were very influential throughout the 20th century. He was widely featured in Vogue magazine. He framed each of his photographs so that nothing escaped from the viewer unless he intended it to be that way. Penn is described as being a quiet, gentle man but with an intense perfectionism about him.

Along with his fashion photography, Penn was also well known for his immaculate still-life portraits. He loved to experiment in the darkroom in very untraditional ways. With a nude series of women, he bleached his prints so that their skins tones became harsh yet still very sexual. He printed much of his own work and enjoyed reprinting his earlier works with his newer discoveries in the darkroom.