Must-See Irving Penn Retrospective at San Francisco’s de Young Museum
Story by Carol Canter
From the elegance of his star-studded fashion photography to his penetrating portraits of people — whether cultural luminaries, laborers, a hippie family, or his Cuzco series of indigenous Peruvians — the range and beauty of work by Irving Penn now on display at the de Young museum is remarkable, revealing, and revolutionary.
Approaching photography as a fine art long before it was widely recognized as such, Penn was celebrated as one of Vogue’s top photographers, creating a record of 20th-century cultural history in his images. Organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2017 to mark the centennial of the artist’s birth, and presented exclusively on the West Coast at the de Young museum, the stunning retrospective brings together over 175 works by Penn, whose groundbreaking career spanned 70 years.
The exhibition presents Penn’s photographs of such leading lights of the screen as the formidable Marlene Dietrich,
renowned Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake,
and boxer Joe Louis.
Penn’s egalitarian spirit and heightened photographic sensitivity made his portraits of everyday people like the Parisian fishmonger, cucumber salesman, and sewer cleaner, equally moving and powerful.
His masterful still lifes include this homage, complete with scattered seeds, torn baguette, and a fly on the lemon, to the style of classic Dutch still life painting from 17th century Holland.
Summer of Love, 1967
A newly enhanced section of the exhibition is dedicated solely to Penn’s photographs from his 1967 San Francisco journey, a commission for Look magazine that was published the following year as an eight-page spread, “The Incredibles.”
“Penn’s images of West Coast residents capture a moment of electrifying social change, which forever altered the cultural landscape of the Bay Area,” remarked Emma Acker, Curator of American Art at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and organizing curator of the exhibition. “The Fine Arts Museums’ presentation of Irving Penn includes an expanded selection of these portraits, emphasizing our Museums’ location at the epicenter of the countercultural movements of the 1960s, particularly the Summer of Love.”
Allow ample time to take a deep dive into the cultural landscape of the last century and revel in the exquisite work of one of its great interpreters. Plan to return more than once, if possible, to let the richness of Penn’s oeuvre sink in. Consider using the excellent audio tour.
As Jeff Rosenheim, one of the exhibition’s original co-curators at The Met, notes:
“Penn was an exquisite image maker, and he was an equally exquisite object maker. I want people to have the pleasure of taking away an understanding of the gorgeous values of color and form in Penn’s work.”
Irving Penn will be on view Tuesday — Sunday 9:30 am — 5:15 pm through July 21, 2024 at de Young museum, Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, 415–750–3600, San Francisco 94118. Advance reservations encouraged. Details on visiting can be found here.
Irving Penn: Centennial
The definitive book on the work of a virtuosic and revered American photographer, this is the official exhibition catalogue for Irving Penn, on view at the de Young Museum from March 16 through July 21, 2024. Originally published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2017, this long out-of-print catalogue has been reissued especially for the de Young’s exhibition.
