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."
