The legendary Irving Penn photographed at Vogue for over six decades, during which time he created an unprecedented 165 covers. The present image, Black and White Vogue Cover (Jean Patchett), graced the cover of the 1 April 1950 issue of American Vogue. It was not only his frst cover in black and white but also the magazine’s frst non-colour cover since May 1932. Vogue’s infuential Art Director Alexander Liberman called Penn’s photographs ‘stoppers’ for their arresting quality that would stop you in your tracks. This attribute is epitomised in Black and White Vogue Cover, which has undeniably become one of Penn’s most enduring images. At a time when his peers were creating fashion photographs with ornate settings, Penn’s seemingly minimalist approach was unconventional and distinctive. He replaced indulgent sets with plain backdrops that enabled him to extract the essence of his subjects. Black and White Vogue Cover perfectly exemplifes his emphasis on form, shape and line. The juxtaposition of black and white in this composition reveals his discerning eye and understanding of positive and negative space. Jean Patchett, the subject of this image and one of Penn’s favourite models, recalled his brilliance in constructing an entirely monochromatic vision: ‘My lips were black. I remember using eyebrow pencil on my lips.’
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Fig. 1. I Platini di Irving Penn: 25 Anni di Fotografia (Irving Penn Platinum Plates) Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna, Turin, 1975
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Part scientist, all artist, Penn experimented for years before arriving in 1967 at the perfect combination of platinum and palladium, which resulted in prints ‘far fner and sweeter’ than platinum alone. His unwavering dedication to the platinumpalladium process was demonstrated in his hand-coating of every print. ‘I myself brushed every single print,’ he recalls. ‘I’d be jealous of anyone else doing that. I printed many at night. I’d shake Lisa by the shoulder in bed. If she liked the picture, she’d reach up and pull me down for a kiss.’ Throughout his unparalleled career, Penn remained deeply interested in the printing process and the many ways in which a single negative can be interpreted. Black and White Vogue Cover was frst realised in platinumpalladium no later than 1968 in an edition of 34. It is likely that this image was one of the frst fashion images Penn printed using his newly perfected process. As indicated in his hand on the verso, the platinum-palladium print ofered here is the actual print that was exhibited in his frst international solo exhibition in 1975. Opening at Turin’s Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna (fg. 1) then travelling to Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Bologna (currently Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna) and London’s The Photographers’ Gallery, the show was dedicated to his platinum-palladium prints and featured fresh iterations of images he had originally created for Vogue. Later, in 1984, a gelatin silver edition not exceeding 16 was realised.
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