irvingpenn: ConclusionPenn turned the still life into a high art. He was an instinctive romantic, w
irvingpenn: ConclusionPenn turned the still life into a high art. He was an instinctive romantic, who, through force of spirit and originality of style, took by storm the art world. Penn was also a gem of purest ray serene, he was an instinctive popular classicist, with a magical gift for visual rhythm, for making something insignificant—a pattern of cigarettes and ashes, each ash miraculously in its one best place—a broken plate with cherries punctuating its white formality, look as formally inevitable as an eighteenth century still-life. Whether it was Forgotten Fruit, or Sewing Machine with 13 Objects, each work had this penchant for poise and passion for panache.Photography can be many things to many people. For Penn a still life was more than just a study of objects. Feeling was the determining factor in his works-and a pair of cigarette butts could evince that feeling…Penn created a formidable study of still lifes, replete with ravishing edges and perfect composition and a quality of deep colour that was the envy of every other photographer. What withstands the test of time is the vein of humane insight in his work, too. Penn was a consummate technician, known equally for the immaculate descriptive quality of his still-life arrangements of consumer goods and for his masterly exploration of photographic materials. Compositional clarity vied with spare elegance. -- source link