Still Life

by John Szarkowski, Irving Penn

Irving Penn is one of the leading photographers of the 20th century. His elegant and innovative photographs are the subject of this volume. It includes some 200 images.

Genres: Photography

144 pages, Hardcover

Published September 7, 2001

About the author

John Szarkowski was an American photographer and curator best known for his role as the director of the Museum of Modern Art’s Photography Department from 1962 through 1991. “Photography is the easiest thing in the world if one is willing to accept pictures that are flaccid, limp, bland, banal, indiscriminately informative, and pointless,” he once explained. “But if one insists in a photograph that is both complex and vigorous it is almost impossible.”

Born Thaddeus John Szarkowski on December 18, 1925 in Ashland, WI, he went on receive a degree in art history from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1948. After working as a museum photographer at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, he moved to Buffalo to teach photography. The artist then relocated to Chicago, where he worked on his photobook The Idea of Louis Sullivan (1956). After his appointment at MoMA in 1962, Szkarowski would help launch the careers of Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, and William Eggleston, among several others during his tenure. He also published acclaimed books on the history of photography, including The Photographer’s Eye (1966) and Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art (1973).

After retiring from the museum in 1991, Szarkowski resumed his own career in photography. He died on July 7, 2007 in Pittsfield, MA. Today, the artist’s works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, among others.

Reviews

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Anna Wintour only had great words to describe Irving Penn's lasting imprints on Vogue, I knew I had to see his works somehow. According to John Szarkowski, it is extremely rare for a photographer to be preeminent in both still life and portraiture as they require very different talents and sensibilities: still life is the genre in which the artist has the highest degree of control over the subject although their inherent submissiveness can be tricky to work with, and portraiture the one in which the artist's control is most compromised by the will of the subject. My favorite shoots:
1. Summer Sleep, editorial photograph for Vogue, New York, March 18, 1949
2. Frozen Foods with String beans, editorial photograph for Vogue, New York, 1977
3. Fish Bones on a Plate (a frugal lunch), editorial photograph for Vogue, New York, October 21, 1993
4. Wormy Apples, New York, July 15, 1985
5. Still Life with Watermelon, editorial photograph for Vogue, New York, ca. 1947
6. Collapse, composition of falling steel pieces, New York, January 1980
7. Still Life with Mouse, photograph for House & Garden, New York, January 15, 1947
8. Snail, Oyster and Frog Legs, editorial photograph for Vogue, New York, February 7, 1989

[Margot · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed to note that most of the photographs are from the '70's when he started, seriously working, in the late '40's. His work mirrors the typical "artistic" magazine photographers in the '70's on. Showing a man with too much money and living the bored life style of the rich and famous... One of his more famous photos is a bee in the act of stinging a woman's lips. Maybe inspired by her color of lipstick...? Anyway, I wasn't inspired or thrilled by the work.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irving Penn pretty invented the editorial still life working for Vogue primarily. But, he's also an accomplished portrait photographer... two genres that don't typically intersect in one person. He's also been working since 1938 and is still doing so. Amazing.

His color work from the late 40's is just as high quality as his later color work. His craftmanship comes through in the beautiful reproductions in this book and considering how most photographers started to consider color in the 60s and 70s, the guy was on another plane. His style is pure beauty but he often includes hints lurking problems and imperfections like flies and mice helping themselves to some food in the photo.