SPOTLIGHT: IRVING PENNChristie’s is pleased to announce Spotlight: Irving Penn, a celebration of the legendary photographer’s indelible impression on photography. The nine photographs offered herein reflect Penn’s scalpel-sharp ability to present a familiar subject in a refreshingly unexpected way. Be it in his intimate portraits of public figures, laudatory portraits of everyday people, monumental depiction of flowers or his sculptural rendition of still-life compositions, Penn created an idiosyncratic visual language that appears as innovative and timeless as the time it was created. IMPORTANT PHOTOGRAPHS FROM AN AMERICAN COLLECTION

IRVING PENN (1917–2009)

The Hand of Miles Davis, New York, 1986

Details

IRVING PENN (1917–2009)
The Hand of Miles Davis, New York, 1986
gelatin silver print, mounted on board
signed, titled and dated in ink, stamped photographer's copyright credit (mount, verso)
image/sheet: 14 7/8 x 14 7/8 in. (37.7 x 37.7 cm.)
mount: 17 x 17 in. (43.1 x 43.1 cm.)

Provenance

Quintenz Gallery, Aspen, Colorado;
acquired from the above by the present owner, 2008.

Literature

Exhibition catalogue, Irving Penn: A Career in Photography, Art Institute of Chicago, 1997, p. 78.
Alexander Libermann, Irving Penn: Passage, Knopf, New York, 1991, p. 259.
Exhibition catalogue, Irving Penn: Centennial, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, pl. 71, p. 191.

Lot Essay

'Then, for about an hour, [Miles Davis and I] went to work. At the end, I said, ‘Thank you very much.’ He got up, came over to me, and kissed me on the mouth. I didn’t know what to say. We shook hands, and he left. Later, I got the chance to know his music, and it struck me as being visual art of a most profound kind. How terrible I couldn’t share that with him then. This is one of the heartbreaks of the profession, I have only the kiss to remember.' –Irving Penn

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