Irving Penn, Resonance

From little-known snapshots to iconic works, 130 photographs by Penn, covering most of his career from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s, were displayed on the entire second floor. This sweeping survey was highlighted by an innovative itinerary bringing out relationships between the photos, transcending their thematic and chronological differences. Penn’s portraits of celebrities from Pablo Picasso to Truman Capote and Marlene Dietrich, his "small trades" series made in France, the United States and England in the 1950s and ethnographic photographs of aborigines in New Guinea or Tuaregs in Morocco were the perfect counterpoint to his skilful still-lifes of cigarette motifs, fruit bowls, animal skulls and other vanities. The rich selection attested to the great photographer’s unparalleled eye and spirit of synthesis. He accurately captured his subjects’ human condition whether they were rich or poor, famous or unknown.
 
"Irving Penn, Resonance" at the Palazzo Grassi-Punta della Dogana featured part of the Pinault Collection’s rich photograph collection for the first time, highlighting its commitment to this essential medium.