For the first time, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, exhibits all 252 of Irving Penn's brilliant Small Trades photographs (through January 10, 2010). Beginning in the summer of 1950, Penn photographed ordinary people in their working clothes and with their tools - in three great cities - Paris, London and New York. The result was a series called Small Trades which so marvelously offers the viewer a meditation on character and livelihood. Penn came back to the images, which he considered his best work, decades later and reprinted them with his platinum-palladium hand-printing techniques. The Getty beautifully staged the silver and platinum prints side by side so that depth and darkness may be contrasted. In a time when everyone seems to be thinking and worrying about work, it was a perfect time to take stock in these images where individuality and occupational pride were premium. http://www.getty.edu/museum.com
Monday, November 9, 2009
Irving Penn: Small Trades
For the first time, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, exhibits all 252 of Irving Penn's brilliant Small Trades photographs (through January 10, 2010). Beginning in the summer of 1950, Penn photographed ordinary people in their working clothes and with their tools - in three great cities - Paris, London and New York. The result was a series called Small Trades which so marvelously offers the viewer a meditation on character and livelihood. Penn came back to the images, which he considered his best work, decades later and reprinted them with his platinum-palladium hand-printing techniques. The Getty beautifully staged the silver and platinum prints side by side so that depth and darkness may be contrasted. In a time when everyone seems to be thinking and worrying about work, it was a perfect time to take stock in these images where individuality and occupational pride were premium. http://www.getty.edu/museum.com
