Irving Penn, Cuzco Town Photographer with Barefoot Girl, Cuzco, 1948, 11 3/4 x 11 5/16 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and pencil verso. Printed in 1989. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Fahey/Klein Gallery is presenting Irving Penn: Worlds in a Small Room, Seen & Unseen, a solo exhibition of works by renowned photographer Irving Penn. This exhibition will feature a powerful retrospective of Penn’s ethnographic studies, which illustrate the diversity of Irving Penn and his work. Following a long-established tradition of ethnographic photography, Penn abandoned the tradition’s passivity and instead applied his own unique approach. The photographs on view highlight Penn’s purposeful engagement with his subjects and his exacting attention to detail. A stark contrast from his personality portraits, the photographs in the exhibition are drawn from the images made from his travels to Peru, Dahomey, Morocco, and New Guinea. With the generous assistance from The Irving Penn Foundation, the photographs on view will be a combination of well-known images, as well as a small selection of lesser known and previously unexhibited works from the “Worlds in a Small Room” series. 

Beginning in 1948, when he photographed the Peruvian Indians in Cuzco, Penn travelled the world and compiled what he called, “records of physical presence”. He 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 invited the inhabitants to step, for a moment, out of their worlds and into a new one. This new world, neutral territory for both photographer and subject, would serve as a meeting ground for nothing less than an intensely human encounter. 

In a career that spanned nearly seventy years, American photographer Irving Penn (born 1917) created some of the most arresting portraits, influential fashion studies, and provocative still lifes of the twentieth century. As one of the most distinguished photographers of the twentieth century, Penn’s portraiture was a fundamentally important part of his remarkable career. Irving Penn challenged and changed expectations of what a studio portrait can be. As a true mark of the significance of his work, Penn’s photographs have appeared primarily in the pages of Vogue, as well as other prominent magazines, as well as on the walls of established galleries and prestigious museums.

Irving Penn, Three Moroccan Women and a Baby, Morocco, 1971. Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 14, 14 13/16 x 15 inches. Signed, stamped, titled, dated, numbered verso. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation

Irving Penn, Two Women in Black with Bread, Morocco, 1971. Platinum Palladium Photograph, Ed. of 21, 19 1/2 x 19 7/8 inches. Signed, stamped, titled, dated, annotated verso, Print made 1986. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation

Irving Penn, Four Guedras (B) (All in Black), Morocco, 1971. Platinum Palladium Photograph, Ed. of 21, 11 7/8 x 11 5/8 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and pencil verso. Print made in 1992. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Two Guedras, Morocco, 1971. Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15, 19 1/8 x 19 inches. Signed, stamped, titled, dated, annotated verso. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Three Guedras, One in White, Morocco, 1971. Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 16, 15 3/16 x 15 inches. Signed, stamped, titled, dated, numbered verso. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Young Enga Couple, New Guinea, 1970. Platinum Palladium Photograph, Ed. of 30, 20 x 3/16 x 19 3/4 inches. Signed, stamped, titled, dated, numbered verso. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Tambul Warrior, New Guinea, 1970. Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 20, 15 1/8 x 15 inches. Signed, stamped, titled, dated, numbered verso. Print made 1984. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Three Aizo Girls of a Lagoon Village, (Three Dahomey Girls, One Standing), Dahomey, 1974. Platinum Palladium Photograph, Ed. of 30, 19 x 18 3/4 inches. Signed, stamped, titled, dated, numbered, annotated verso. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Tribesman with Nose Ornament, New Guinea, 1970/1990. Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 18, 17 5/8 x 18 5/8 inches. Signed, stamped, titled, dated, numbered, annotated verso. Print made 1990. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Sitting Enga Woman, New Guinnea, 1970/1984. Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 20, 19 1/8 x 19 inches. Signed, stamped, titled, dated, numbered, annotated verso. Print made 1984. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Cuzco Children, Peru, 1948. Platinum Palladium Photograph, Ed. of 60, 19 1/2 x 20 1/4 inches. Signed, stamped, titled, numbered, annotated verso. Print made 1973. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Two Standing Boys with Seated Girl, Cuzco, 1948. Vintage Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 10; 11 x 10 1/2 inches. Printed in 1949. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Two Men and a Woman (Neg. 1401), Cuzco, 1948. Vintage Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 7; 7 7/8 x 7 1/2 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and ink verso. Printed in 1949. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Street Child, Cuzco, 1948. Vintage Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 8; 11 1/8 x 10 9/16 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and ink verso. Printed in 1949. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Sitting Man with Pink Face, New Guinea, 1970. Platinum Palladium Photograph, Ed. of 50, 20 11/16 x 19 3/8 inches. Signed, stamped, titled, numbered, annotated verso. Print made 1980. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Man with Pink Face, New Guinea, 1970. Platinum Palladium Print Mounted to Aluminum, Ed. of 49, 19 7/8 x 19 3/8 inches. Signed and annotated with stamps and pencil verso. Print made in 1978. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Three Dahomey Girls, One One Reclining, Dahomey, 1967. Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 15, 19 3/8 x 19 3/8 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and ink verso. Printed in 1984. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Three Asaro Mud Men (A), New Guinea, 1970. Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 25, 13 3/8 x 13 3/8 inches. Signed, stamped, titled, dated, editioned verso. Print made before 1975. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Three Asaro Mud Men (B), New Guinea, 1970. Platinum Palladium Photograph, Ed. of 24, 18 5/8 x 18 5/8 inches. Signed, stamped, titled, dated, numbered, annotated verso. Print made 1995. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Child Painted White, New Guinea, 1970. Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 11; 10 1/2 x 10 5/16 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and pencil verso. Print Made in 1984. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Child Painted White, New Guinea, 1970. Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 11; 10 1/2 x 10 5/16 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and pencil verso. Print Made in 1984. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Father, Son and Grandfather, New Guinea, 1970. Platinum Palladium Photograph, Ed. of 19; 19 1/8 x 19 3/8 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and pencil verso. Print made in 1990. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Father, Son, Grandfather, and Great Grandfather, New Guinea, 1970. Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 5; 15 1/2 x 15 3/8 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and ink verso. Print made in 2002. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Three Young Girls, Morocco, 1971. Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 10; 14 7/8 x 14 7/8 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and ink verso. Print made in 1991. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Dahomey Children, Dahomey, 1967. Platinum Palladium Photograph, Ed. of 45; 19 7/16 x 21 1/4 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and pencil verso. Print made in 1976. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Man in White, Woman in Black (B), Morocco, 1971. Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 6; 15 3/8 x 15 3/8 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and pencil verso. Print made 2002. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Berber Shepherd with Goat, Khenifra, Morocco, 1971. Vintage Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 9;10 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and ink verso. Print made before 1974. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Child Dressed for the Brides Market, Morocco, 1971. Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 6; 10 7/8 x 10 1/2 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and ink verso. Print made in 2004. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, Two Young Nondugl Girls, New Guinea, 1970. Vintage Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 7; 10 9/16 x 10 5/8 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and ink verso. Print made before 1974. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.

Irving Penn, New Guinea Man and Sitting Woman, New Guinea, 1970. Platinum Palladium Photograph, Ed. of 8; 13 3/8 x 13 5/16 inches. Signed, titled, dated, and annotated with stamps and pencil verso. Print made in 1983. Copyright © by The Irving Penn Foundation.