Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty

Irving Penn (1917–2009), known for his iconic fashion, portrait and still life images that appeared in Vogue magazine, ranks as […]

Irving Penn (1917–2009), known for his iconic fashion, portrait and still life images that appeared in Vogue magazine, ranks as one of the foremost photographers of the 20th century. “Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty,” organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and curated by Merry Foresta, the museum’s first Curator of Photography, is the first retrospective of Penn’s work in nearly 20 years. The exhibition features work from all stages of Penn’s career—street scenes from the late 1930s, photographs of the American South from the early 1940s, celebrity portraits, fashion photographs, still lifes and more private studio images. Penn’s pictures reveal a modernist instinct for stark simplicity whether he was photographing celebrities, fashion models, still lifes or people in remote places of the world.

Beyond Beauty is made possible by the generous support of City of San Diego, Michele Comtois, Gardner Bilingual Fund, The Joseph and Beverly Glickman Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation, Karen Kinney, Marion and David Knowles, Gail and Mel Mackler, Barbara Mandel, The Heart of Neiman Marcus Foundation, The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation, Julie Lorene Smith, Allan and Anita Sutton, Marie Tartar and Steve Eilenberg, Peggy Ann Wallace.