“Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty” February 24–May 29, 2017
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (January 19, 2017)—Irving Penn (1917–2009), known for his iconic fashion, portrait, and still life images that appeared in Vogue magazine, ranks as one of the twentieth century’s most prolific and influential photographers. The first retrospective of his work in 20 years, Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty conveys the extraordinary breadth and legacy of the American artist and will be on view at the Frist Art Museum from February 24 to May 29, 2017.
Organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Merry Foresta, the museum’s curator of photography from 1983 to 1999, the exhibition contains more than 140 photographs, including the debut of 100 photographs recently donated by The Irving Penn Foundation and several previously unseen or never-before-exhibited photographs. Penn’s renown as a fashion photographer is matched by the recognition of his innovative and insightful portraits, still lifes, nudes, and travel photographs. The exhibition features work from all stages of Penn’s career, including street scenes from the late 1930s, photographs of the American South from the early 1940s, celebrity portraits, fashion photographs, and Penn’s stunning late color work.
In a career that spanned nearly 70 years, Penn’s aesthetic and technical skill earned him accolades in both the artistic and commercial worlds. He was a master of both black-and-white and color photography, and his revival of platinum printing in the 1960s and 1970s was a catalyst for significant change in the art world. He successfully crossed the chasm that separated magazine and fine-art photography, narrowing the gap between art and fashion. “Penn adopted a workmanlike approach to making pictures,’” says Frist Art Museum Chief Curator Mark Scala. “But even in his most commercial images, he upended convention with a penchant for formal surprise.”
Schooled in painting and design, Penn eventually chose photography as his life’s work. His portraits and fashion photographs defined elegance, yet throughout his career he also transformed mundane objects—storefront signs, food, cigarette butts, street debris—into memorable images of unexpected, often surreal, beauty.
The exhibition is arranged in reverse chronology, allowing viewers to peel away layers of history by moving from the present into the past. In Bee, made for Vogue in 1995, Penn reflects the decadence that permeated much fashion photography of the nineties. Penn’s equally assertive portraits show cultural figures such as dancer Rudolph Nureyev, singer Leontyne Price, and painter Francis Bacon in intimate close-up. “Rather than containing clues about their creative enterprise, the portraits allow nuanced facial expressions to convey deep introspection,” says Scala. “And among the most psychologically charged of Penn’s images are his ‘corner portraits.’” Taken in the late 1940s, these photographs depict artists, writers, and others posed in a constructed corner, often in positions suggesting discomfort and claustrophobia.
His earliest works—urban street scenes from the late 1930s and photographs of the American South made during a road trip from New York to Mexico in 1941–42—show Penn to be attuned to the photography of his own time, especially the documentary approach of Walker Evans and the New York Photo League. At the same time, they echo Surrealism’s fascination with provocative juxtaposition and symbolic meaning.
Exhibition Catalogue
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue ($45, softcover), co-published by The Irving Penn Foundation and the Smithsonian American Art Museum and distributed by Yale University Press. The catalogue includes an essay by Merry Foresta that introduces Penn to a younger generation and delves into his use of photography to respond to social and cultural change.
Exhibition Credit
Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum with generous support from ART MENTOR FOUNDATION LUCERNE, Sakurako and William Fisher, The William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment Fund, The Lauder Foundation—Leonard and Judy Lauder Fund, Edward Lenkin and Roselin Atzwanger, The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Margery and Edgar Masinter, The Margery and Edgar Masinter Exhibitions Fund, the James F. Petersen Charitable Fund in honor of Tania and Tom Evans, The Bernie Stadiem Endowment Fund, and the Trellis Fund. The C. F. Foundation in Atlanta supports the museum’s traveling exhibition program, Treasures to Go.
Public Programs
Friday, February 24
Curator’s Perspective: “Irving Penn: Beyond Fashion” presented by Merry Foresta, founding director, Smithsonian Institution Photography Initiative
6:30 p.m.
Frist Art Museum Auditorium
Free; first come, first seated
Independent curator Merry Foresta will introduce major developments in Penn’s career and exhibition highlights in this one-hour lecture.
Film Series: “Imagining Photographers on Film”
Movies make indelible impressions on us and shape how we imagine a host of glamorous professionals, such as detectives, painters, and starlets. Be they surrounded by gorgeous models, contending with high-strung editors, or involved in high-stakes intrigue, career photographers make fascinating protagonists. Inspired by the exhibition Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty, we invite you to three classic films that offer very different visions of photographers’ lives.
Funny Face
Friday, March 10, 7:00 p.m.
Frist Art Museum Auditorium
Free; first come, first seated
Starring Fred Astaire as a dapper fashion photographer and Audrey Hepburn as an intellectual book-clerk-turned-model, Funny Face (1957) is a delightful musical romp through New York and Paris. In this technicolor send-up of the fashion industry, Astaire’s Dick Avery is modeled on the famous photographer Richard Avedon, whose beautiful photographs appear in the title sequence. Join us for this ode to the fashion photographer as a suave and sophisticated aesthete. Directed by Stanley Donen. 143 minutes. NR. Blu-ray.
Save the dates:
Rear Window
Friday, April 7, 7:00 p.m.
Directed by Alred Hitchcock. 112 minutes. NR. 35 mm
Blow-Up
Friday, May 5, 7:00 p.m.
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.
111 minutes. NR. 35 mm
Sponsor Acknowledgment
This exhibition is supported in part by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Buddy Kite: 615.744.3351, ”
Ellen Jones Pryor: 615.243.1311, ”
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About the Frist Art Museum
Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Frist Art Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit art exhibition center dedicated to presenting and originating high-quality exhibitions with related educational programs and community outreach activities. Located at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tenn., the Frist Art Museum offers the finest visual art from local, regional, national, and international sources in exhibitions that inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways. The Frist Art Museum’s Martin ArtQuest Gallery features interactive stations relating to Frist Art Museum exhibitions. Information on accessibility can be found at FristArtMuseum.org/accessibility. Gallery admission is free for visitors 18 and younger and for members; $12 for adults; $9 for seniors and college students with ID; and $7 for active military. College students are admitted free Thursday and Friday evenings (with the exception of Frist Fridays), 5:00–9:00 p.m. Groups of 10 or more can receive discounts with advance reservations by calling 615.744.3247. The galleries, café, and gift shop are open seven days a week: Mondays through Wednesdays, and Saturdays, 10:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays, 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.; and Sundays, 1:00–5:30 p.m., with the café opening at noon. For additional information, call 615.244.3340 or visit FristArtMuseum.org.
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