Underfoot

On exhibition for the first time, this group of more than thirty images is drawn from master photographer Irving Penn’s most current body of work. Penn (American, b. 1917) is internationally celebrated for his illustrious career in fashion photography; his striking portraits and nudes; and his innovative still lifes. The artist generated a stir in the 1970s with his large, stately photographs of cigarette butts, crushed paper cups, used ticket stubs, and other street trash.

Now in his seventh decade as a working photographer, Penn has recently turned his attention to patches of discarded chewing gum on the sidewalks of New York City. Photographed close-up and exquisitely printed, these humble subjects are revealed by the photographer as engaging, organic forms of fascinating and endless variation.