Irving Penn 'Wide Skull'

Photographs from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Sold to Benefit Acquisition Funds
Irving Penn
1917 - 2009
'Wide Skull, N.Y.'

gelatin silver print, titled, dated and annotated 'morning light' and 'unique test print' in pencil and with the photographer's 'Photograph by Irving Penn' copyright and 'TEST' stamps on the reverse
image: 15⅞ by 19¾ in. (40.3 by 50.2 cm.)
Executed in 1993.

Condition Report:
Please note the colors and shades in the online catalogue illustration may vary depending on screen settings.

This print is in generally excellent condition. Visible only under high raking light are soft handling creases and surface scuffs that do not appear to break the emulsion. The edges are gently worn with occasional tiny losses to the emulsion.

On the reverse, 'MFAH ACC.200.547' is written in pencil in an unidentified hand.

Catalogue Note:
"Neither morbid reliquaries nor sentimental mementos, these photographs are not merely imitations of death, but an advertisement of its inevitability. Penn’s skulls speak of permanence, not decay." (Irving Penn: Master Images, p. 12)

Provenance:
Gift of the photographer in 2000 to the present owner