Irving Penn: The Platinum Prints - Tapa dura

In a career that spans more than fifty years, photographer Irving Penn has created some of the most arresting portraits, influential fashion studies, and provocative still lifes of the twentieth century. Although much of his work was undertaken for reproduction in magazines, since the early 1960s he has also made a limited number of platinum/palladium prints of his most celebrated photographs. A meticulous craftsman, Penn has experimented extensively with this process in order to make prints with remarkably subtle, rich tonal ranges and luxurious textures; prints that are, in fact, the exact opposite of the more neutral reproductions of his photographs that appear in the popular press. Included in this handsomely designed and beautifully produced book are platinum/palladium prints of some of Penn's most important photographs: portraits of Pablo Picasso, David Smith, Saul Steinberg, and Marcel Duchamp; studies of indigenous peoples in New Guinea and Peru; innovative still lifes; in addition to examples of his celebrated fashion studies.

Sarah Greenough is curator and head of the department of photographs at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Published in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington.