Irving Penn Portraits Exhibition

The Irving Penn Portraits exhibition on show at the National Portrait Gallery invites you to view a stunning collection of photos, taken over a lengthy career. Showcasing over 120 prints spanning a seven decade period, the Irving Penn Portraits are certain to be one of the biggest photography exhibitions on the London scene in 2010.

Irving Penn Portraits
The exhibition covers all of Penn's portraiture collection and features major cultural icons and famous figures from all over the world. Starting with his work for Vogue magazine in the 1940s and ending with photos from his last shoots in the noughties, the array of faces on show is simply stunning given that the images were all taken by just one man.

Groundbreaking work
Having started work as a photographer for Vogue in 1944 Irving Penn soon made a break with the tradional style of shooting at the time and created a unique and groundbreaking style of his own. Fans of photography history will be thrilled to see portraits of the likes of Truman Capote and Max Ernst in this new and simplified style on show in the Irving Penn Portraits exhibition.

Famous portraits
Visitors to the Irving Penn Portraits exhibition are sure to be stunned by the amount of famous faces they see in the show, as Penn captured the image of hundreds of different celebrities, artists, actors, painters and musicians in his time. Amongst the portraits on show in the exhibition you can see Pablo Picasso, Marlene Dietrich, Christian Dior, T.S. Eliot, Duke Ellington, Alfred Hitchcock, Edith Piaf, Harold Pinter and Igor Stravinsky.

Changing styles
As Irving Penn became more famous, his style of paired down simplicity began to become synonymous with his name. Taking close ups of his subjects, and using different visual tricks to get them to show their personality placed greater emphasis on his photographic skill and during the 50s he became renowned for introducing this new style. A highlight of the Irving Penn Portrait exhibition for many will no doubt be the image of Pablo Picasso, taken wearing a hat low over his forehead and with one eye in darkness.

Fashion photos
Asides from his iconic portrait style, there are several photos in the Irving Penn Portraits exhibition that represent his career as a fashion photographer. He had an enormous back catalogue of fashion and still life photographs to his name, and many visitors to the National Portrait Gallery will recognise his style instantly as it has become such an inspiration for many fashion photographers over the years.

The Irving Penn Portraits exhibition takes place from 10am - 6pm, Thursday 18th February - Sunday 6th June 2010 at National Portrait Gallery. For more information or to book tickets for this event, click on the link below.

National Portrait Gallery Official Website

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