Irving Penn at the National Gallery
Sometimes I think I am really spoiled living in London – you get to see the most amazing, world class photography exhibitions. I had a meeting that fell through today so I skived off and caught the Irving Penn – Portraits exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. I loved the show. It was a lesson in simplicity. Beautiful simple portraits that are deceptively masterful. Arranged chronologically (yawn…), the images are simply lit, usually one light source, often daylight and the subjects all look very comfortable and authentic. Well a few were a bit stagey, like Hussein Chalayan but they can’t ALL be winners.
One thing I took away from the exhibition – repetition. He wasn’t afraid of repeating himself. He moved into a studio in Paris and must have used the same backdrop – a canvas discarded from a circus – for over 20 years. But it’s this repetition that makes us focus on the sitters, and not the setting and makes the images all the more powerful.
I especially liked the series of portraits of the sitters squeezed into a tight corner frame, forcing them to arrange themselves in a confined space.
Beautifully printed platinum and Gelatin prints, some from the 1940′s. Wonderful, inspiring, check it out if you can.
Until the 6th of June 2010
