Mentor - Irving Penn

"Photography a cake can be art" - Irving Penn, 1953

The photographer who has most inspired me is Irving Penn.  Irving Penn is most known for his fashion photography for Vogue magazine, his portraits and still life.  Penn's work is distinct and sophisticated while withstanding a strong reputation as a creative artist.  He established a reputation that has kept him in the top bracket of photography even past his death.  In 1958, Irving Penn was named one of "The World's 10 Greatest Photographers" in an international poll conducted by Popular Photography Magazine.  Penn's response to this was "I am a professional photographer because it is the best way I know to earn the money I require to take care of my wife and children.", this response captures the purpose and idealism of the time.

Irving was born in 1917 in New Jersey, where he lived with his parents and brother, Arthur Penn, who went on to be a film producer and director.  Irving attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art where he studied painting, drawing, graphics and industrial arts.  While still a student, some of Penn's works were published under Brodovitch at Harpers Bazaar.  Irving worked as a freelance designer before taking Brodovitch's position as the art director at Saks Fifth Avenue where he worked only for a year before leaving to travel (where he adopted photography as a hobby).  When he returned to New York, Vogue magazine offered him a job as an associate in the Art Department.  Penn really established himself when he photographed his first cover for Vogue in 1943, which led him to success as a photographer for the magazine shooting portraits, life stills, covers and fashion.  He then created his own studio in New York and began making advertising photographs in the 1950's, and his client list grew as a result of this.  Irving met fashion model Lisa Fonssagrives at a photo shoot in 1947, they then got married and had a child, Tom Penn, who went on to become a metal designer.

Lisa Fonssagrives - Model and Wife of Irving Penn

Picasso