Irving Penn (1917–2009) brought to photography the rigour of a painter and the precision of a master printer. For more than sixty years his works for »Vogue« set new standards for fashion, portraiture and the still life alike. Major retrospectives at The Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art confirm his place among the great masters of the medium.

Penn favoured the controlled space of the studio, where he could strip away everything that was not essential and concentrate fully on his subject. He applied the same rigour to every genre: to the workers of his »Small Trades« series, to portraits made in a portable tent studio in Africa, Nepal and New Guinea, and to everyday objects. Committed to the highest print quality, he revived nineteenth-century techniques and perfected the platinum-palladium print, at a time when photographic prints were not yet regarded as art objects.

Throughout its history, CAMERA WORK Gallery has presented several exhibitions dedicated to Irving Penn. His groundbreaking photographic work has had a lasting influence on generations of photographers and continues to be celebrated and honored by the gallery.