work with him atHarper’s Bazaaron some design
projects during school vacations. AtHarper’s Bazaar,
Penn became exposed to the world of fashion and to
the work of artists such as surrealist painter Salvador
Dali, American sculptor Isamu Noguchi, and the
French artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. The now-
legendary fashion arbiter Diana Vreeland was one of
the young editors at the magazine.
From 1938 to 1940 Penn worked as a freelance
designer in New York. Earning enough money to
buy his first camera, he purchased a Rolleiflex, and
wandered the streets of New York on weekends tak-
ing photographs. A few of those early images were
printed as illustrations inHarper’s Bazaar.From
1940 to 1941 he worked as an advertising designer
for the Saks Fifth Avenue department store.
The young Penn, though, wished to explore the
world, and in 1941 traveled to Mexico by train, in
short trips across the southern United States. In
Mexico, Penn painted for a year in a studio in Coy-
oaca ́n, a suburb of Mexico City, and took photo-
graphs. Dissatisfied with his paintings, though, he
destroyed many of them and returned to New York.
In 1943 he was hired by Alexander Liberman, art
director ofVogue, as his assistant. Liberman recog-
nized Penn’s photographic talent, and urged him to
pursue his photography. Penn’s first cover, an ele-
gant still-life, appeared on October 1, 1943; he even-
tually would photograph 165Voguecovers.
Serving as ambulance driver and photographer in
the American Field Service with the British Army
in India and Italy in 1944 and 1945, his photographs
of war activities show his early ability to capture an
essential core of a particular scene or culture. In 1948,
following a photographic assignment forVoguein
Peru, he stayed behind to spend Christmas in the
historic city of Cuzco. Discovering a daylight studio
in the center of town, in several days he won the trust
of a people whose native Quechuan language he
didn’t know. There he photographed the indigenous
peoples, such asEgg Seller with his Son,creating
works that are simultaneously still-lifes and portraits,
as he carefully arranged a flowered curtain backdrop,
eggs, and carpet with his subjects. Their beautifully
woven striped garments became strong graphic com-
ponents in the large angular shape created by father
and son. His striking workCuzco Children, showing
two children leaning against an ornately carved table,
is also from this series.
Even though at this relatively early point in his
career he was still experimenting—during the years
1949 to 1950 betweenVogueassignments he photo-
graphed the female nude and created prints using a
complex bleaching technique—his work had an
unmistakable mark. In portraiture, fashion, and
still life works, in black and white or color, his
honing in on the essentials while creating works of
great formal tension and beauty quickly made him
one of America’s most recognizable photographers.
In 1950 Penn married the beautiful fashion model
Lisa Fonssagrives. His photographs of her frequently
present her slim elegance, centrally placed with few
background props. One sees Lisa, for example, in his
WomanwithRoses(Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), Lafaurie
Press, Paris, 1951, in partial profile, her black dress
creating a dark sculptural silhouette in contrast to the
white roses on her upper arm. Her sharp, elegant,
symmetrical features with high cheekbones reflect con-
temporary style as well as classic sculpture.
Inspired by Alexander Liberman, Penn also
worked on a series of ‘‘small trades’’ people—Petits
Metiers—in Paris, New York, and London. He
photographed generally unrecognized trades people
such as a balloon seller, a cucumber seller, young
butchers, pastry cooks, a coal man, or telegraph
messenger posing formally in their work clothes
and holding the implements of their trade or occu-
pation. It was this series that saw the genesis of what
was to become characteristic of his portrait style:
subjects posed against a plain background and
lighted from the side. He also at this time placed
his subjects in corners, which became another trade-
mark of his style.
Continuing to experiment, in 1952 he was intro-
duced to the stroboscopic light by colleague Leslie
Gill. Beween 1950 and 1961, Penn was particularly
intrigued by the seductive effects possible with infra-
red film, which brought forth sharp, black pupils,
pale lips, and alabaster-like skin tones. Beginning in
1964, he discovered the platinum process, which was
popular at the turn of the century for its softly
modeled tones and density and luminosity.
In 1961, in Paris, Penn learned of a young Rus-
sian dancer named Nureyev, who had just defected,
and invited him to pose. Penn’s portrait,Rudolph
Nureyev’s Legs, Paris 1961, is a magnificent study in
strength and in simple composition. The muscles,
veins, and shape of these legs, one foot ‘‘on point,’’
reveal both artistry and disciplined work. The gentle
lines of the negative space between the legs add to
the sculptural dimension of the piece.
In the late 1960s Penn built a traveling studio for a
series of ethnographic essays forVogue. From 1967 to
1971, he traveled to Dahomey, Nepal, Cameroon,
New Guinea, and Morocco. The clarity and strength
of his fashion photographs is carried to these ethno-
graphic images.Scarified Girl, Dahomey, 1967, is a
torso study of a young woman, nude from the waist
up except for a simple chain necklace and neckpiece
that bisect her body, The scars that embellish her skinPENN, IRVING