Irving Penn’s small trades at the Getty, LA
I always loved that portfolio. It fits right between the Peru studio portraits early in his career and the tent/tribes shoots across the world in “Worlds in a small room”.
I just got back from the show at the Getty center in LA (where admission is free but parking $15, really) and was again impressed by the collection.
The prints had various qualities to them, from fiber based prints to variations in the platinum coatings, but it was a nice treat to see them all lined up for comparison. From the subjects, to the way they carried themselves and their tools, their facial expressions; all very intriguing.
The only disappointing part was that due to the sheer amount of prints some hang a little to high for closer review, but i guess that a nice problem to have with around 250 prints…
And i really enjoyed that the actual print size was not at such a monster scale that are shown i recent years, like this the photograph can be viewed as one whole image and the eye doesn’t have to wander.