Irving Penn

>American portrait and fashion photographer.
>'Signature blend of classical elegance and cool minimalism' (Grundberg. A.)
> Merry A. Foresta, co-organiser of a 1990 retrospective of his work at the National Portrait Gallery and what is now the Smithsonian American Art Museum, wrote that his pictures exhibited "the control of an art director fused with the process of an artist."

> Penn printed his own pictures using Platinum rather than Silver. This produced 'velvety tones' and is very permanent. However, it is very time consumuing, requiring precise control and impecable preparation.

>Penn acknowledged decay by photographing street debris such as chewing gum, cigarette butts, and later, animal skulls.

> John Szarkowski, Museum of Modern Art's director of photography wrote, "The grace, wit, and inventiveness of his pattern making, the lively and surprising elegance of his line, and his sensitivity to the character, the idiosyncratic humours, of light make Penn's pictures, even the slighter ones, a pleasure for our eyes."

In this quote I feel that when Szarkowski states that 'even the slighter ones, [are] a pleasure for our eyes' I think that this relates to my perception of Alchemy (the transformation of ugliness to beauty or ordinary to extraordinary) as Penn manages to turn simple images, and sometimes ugly item such as the cigarette butts, into wonderful, meaningful photographs.