200
Irving Penn
The Angel
- Estimate
- $8,000 - 12,000
Lot Details
Platinum palladium print, printed 1979.
1946
9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (24.1 x 19.1 cm)
Signed, titled, dated, numbered 11/52 in pencil, Condé Nast copyright credit reproduction limitation, credit and edition stamps on the reverse of the aluminum flush-mount.
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Catalogue Essay
French wrestler Maurice Tillet, was a world heavyweight champion who in his twenties developed acromegaly. He moved to the United States and continued his wrestling as the ‘The French Angel’ drawing large crowds in the 1940s.
Provenance
Literature
Irving Penn
American | B. 1917 D. 2009Irving Penn was one of the 20th century’s most significant photographers, known for his arresting images, technical mastery, and quiet intensity. Though he gained widespread acclaim as a leading Vogue photographer for over sixty years, Penn remained a private figure devoted to his craft. Trained under legendary art director Alexey Brodovitch in Philadelphia, he began his career assisting at Harper’s Bazaar before joining Vogue in 1943, where editor and artist Alexander Liberman recognized Penn’s distinctive eye and encouraged him to pursue photography. Penn’s incomparably elegant fashion studies reset the standard for the magazine world, and his portraits, still lifes, and nude studies broke new ground. His 1960 book Moments Preserved redefined the photographic monograph with its dynamic layout and high-quality reproductions. In 1964, Penn began printing in platinum and palladium, reviving this 19th-century process to serve his own distinct vision. An innovator in every sense, Penn’s approach to photography was endlessly adventurous. Few photographers of his generation experimented as widely with both conventional and historic print processes, and none achieved Penn’s level of excellence in all.
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