"Earthly Bodies: Irving Penn's Nudes" In the fashion world, Irving Penn is generally known as a photographer in love with the clean, white page and crisply defined images—so much so, in fact, that his studio was commonly referred to as "the hospital" by magazine colleagues. He was mentored by legendary art director Alexy Brodovitch (who pioneered the two-page magazine spread and also championed Man Ray and Richard Avedon); he made his name working with Alexander Liberman at Vogue, and was instrumental in popularizing the postwar prototype of the regular, apple-pie American girl. Before entering the media, however, Penn had art-for-art's-sake aspirations and a failed attempt at a painting career. He made the unusual series of nudes independently, during his off hours between 1949 and 1950, while employed at Vogue. They are presently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public Exhibit: January 15, 2002–April 21, 2002 Drawings, Prints, and Photographs Galleries, The Howard Gilman Gallery, 2nd floor - order the companion book 'Earthly Bodies: Nudes by Irving Penn' direct from Amazon for $52.50. In addition from January 17-February 23rd 'Irving Penn: Still Lifes' are being shown at Pace/MacGill Gallery, 32 East 57th Street, New York. For more information contact Jennifer Hoover 759-7999.)
	Working in his studio during weekends, holidays and nights, Penn hired mostly heavier-set artists' models and photographed them, moving his camera around their less-than-ideal, unclad forms as if the women's bodies were landscapes. Often positioning his tripod in very close proximity to his subjects, Penn unabashedly appreciated the models' voluptuous contours, as opposed to critically scrutinizing them. He toiled like an art student rendering the same sphere over and over again, attempting to fully apprehend the shape, with all of its particular possibilities and restrictions. Penn allowed his process to evolve naturally, experimenting over the two years with a variety of developing processes, angles and degrees of focus.
	The photographs allow the eyes to bask in delectably fleshy female forms, most of which bear more resemblance to the Venus of Willendorf than to Kate Moss. Faces and distinguishing individual features are cropped out, and the tactile, voluptuous quality of skin becomes palpable. The portrayal of idealized beauty is of less interest than the linear, sculptural qualities of a twisted spine or rounded shoulder, sunken belly button or supine thigh. Some of the most successful images are entirely abstract. A rear end might seem to be a topographical map of the desert, in another context. Pendulous breasts cast formidable shadows and are gravitationally awesome, sometimes allowed to spread out, lying flat against the ground. Penn was unflinchingly drawn to twisting torsos padded with ample rolls of buttery fat. And, one must admit, they're visually beguiling.
	Liberman, a huge fan of Penn's work, however, didn't think so. Penn's boss never understood this particular body of work. "Not those nudes," he is rumored to have said, giving advice to the artist as he was assembling a portfolio. Of course, it's easy enough to understand how the sight of such corpulent forms would rest uneasily in the mind of a top Condé Nast editor. But regardless of one's predilection for a given body type, Penn's talent is unmistakable in these images. Whatever portion of the body he chose to focus on, it's impeccably balanced and lit, and the body fragments always appear as fully realized compositions. This series of nudes came to an end in 1950, when Penn married then top model Lisa Fonssagrives. His marriage aside, the photographs are so good—and the later ones especially so—that one wishes Penn had gone on, exploring the strange esthetic land between the grotesque and the gorgeous, stylizing simply what is. It's a peculiar taste, but one worth acquiring.
	- Sara Valdez Reviewed January 15th, 2002 - text copyright © 2002 lookonline Inc. Photos used with permission. All photos copyright © 1950-2002 by Irving Penn. Past Review of 'Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed' Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum Past Review of Guy Bourdin Photo Exhibition at Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York to table of contents...