I was saddened to read that Irving Penn passed away yesterday. For those not familiar with Mr. Penn, as he was called, he was one of the most amazing photographers around. He was a regular contributor to Vogue for decades and was known for both his engaging portraits and elegant still-life work. I loved seeing his pictures that accompanied the beauty articles in Vogue. (In fact, if I remember correctly, the bee-stung lip photo above accompanied an article about lip injections written by pre-"Sex and the City" Candace Bushnell. And I think the makeup was by Kevyn Aucoin. Please post a comment if this isn't correct or if you know who the model was!)
Our Sandy Linter worked with Mr. Penn on dozens of shoots with several supermodels, including Janice Dickinson, Kim Alexis, Patti Hansen, Kelly LeBrock and even Gia Carangi. Her favorite assignment with him was a rare trip to Paris (Mr. Penn prefered shooting in his studio over traveling to locations) with model Rosie Vela to photograph the Paris collections. "It was hot, no air-conditioning. I remember his wife, Lisa Fonssagrives, visiting the studio. She was tall, gray hair. Gorgeous."
Mr. Penn could be tough on models. "He wanted visually to get the girl off guard, but to catch her at her most beautiful," recalls Sandy. "He was hard on them because they had to hold the pose. They always had to be thinking. If they went vacant, he knew it."
"He did everything he wanted to on his own terms," said Sandy. "He was an artist."
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Mr. Penn had some amazing photographs. What an artist.
We're losing so many of our legends. I can't begin to imagine the skill and talent and vision that was needed at that time, pre-airbrushing and all the other modern day tricks. RIP.
I met Mr. Penn (no one called him Irving) in 1974-75. The model was Paola. He was quite strict with her about her poses, she was doing a nude, for Vogue, I never saw the final shot. When I worked with him and always Poly Mellon was the stylist. I loved being in his studio because he was all for the ART. It was all about the magic. Models didn't have to look one way or another. He wanted to see something, different, it wasn't always a natural look, but it could be. He photographed Gia getting a haircut by Christiaan, it was fun because it was a big cut with hair flying here and there and he captured a lock of hair landing on her nose. I asked him if I should remove that, and he said, yes, of course. He had a wondeful warm sense of humor. And he deserved every inch of the respect all models, stylists makeup and hair artists gave him. That's it, there will never be another Mr. Penn.xxSandy Linter
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