Irving Penn: A Career in Photography

by Colin Westerbeck, Colin Eisler, Issey Miyake

Trained as an artist, Irving Penn began photographing for "Vogue" in the 1940s and went on to become an accomplished and versatile image-maker. This retrospective showcases 90 images covering the whole of his career.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Michael Rice · Rating 3 out of 5]

the photographs are awesome as expected but it reads more like an academic art history book which can be tough to get through at times

[Jereme · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating here is tainted by the fact that I read Irving Penn's book "Passages" prior to reading this one. Despite not being as interested in fashion and portrait photography as I am other disciplines, I was blown away by Penn's work in those fields. He is also an extremely talented still life photographer, and those photos are some of my favorites of his. "Irving Penn: A Career in Photography" wouldn't be the book I'd recommend for someone interested in his work, though. The choice of photos and the order in which they're presented is not as strong as in Passages. Also, much of "A Career in Photography" is comprised of essays that, in my opinion, are not very moving or interesting. Finally, the photo reproductions in Passages are richer and absolutely superior to those in this book. Irving Penn is an incredible photographer. This book just isn't the best collection of his work.

[Lauren Devon]

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