Irving Penn (1917–2009)

Simple and sublime

1974/1980. First edition thus (softcover), first printing. Soft cover. Photographically illustrated stiff wrappers; no dust jacket as issued. Photographs and text by Irving Penn. 96 pp., with 74 black-and-white plates. 10-1/2 x 10-3/8 inches. [The first hardcover edition of this book was cited in Andrew Roth, ed., The Open Book. (Göteborg, Sweden: Hasselblad Center in association with Steidl Verlag, Göttingen, Germany, 2004).] From the publisher: "Beginning in 1948, when he photographed show more the Peruvian Indians in Cuzco, Penn has traveled the world to compile these 'records of physical' presence.' He has set up his 'ambulant studio' on the edge of the Sahara, among gypsies in Spain, in the highlands of New Guinea, in the mountains of Nepal -- and has invited the inhabitants to step, for a moment, out of their worlds and into a new one....For this remarkable collection of photographs, Penn has provided a text in which he further illuminates the relationship between photographer and subject, and the relationship between photographer and camera." show less

Irving Penn heeft voor de Amerikaanse editie van het tijdschrift Vogue tussen 1967 en 1973 zeven jaren bloemen gefotografeerd. Ieder jaar fotografeerde hij een bloemensoort: opeenvolgens klaprozen, tulpen, rozen, lelies, pioenrozen, orchideeën en begonias.
In "Flowers" staat een selectie van die foto's. Alle foto's zijn kleurenfoto's, haarscherp, mooi uitgelicht en prachtig qua compositie. Ik ken geen ander boek met zulke mooie foto's van bloemen.