The Person Himself: Irving Penn’s Ethnographic Studies

The Art Institute of Chicago is home to the Irving Penn Archives, one of the world’s leading collections of photographs and memorabilia about the artist. Natasha Derrickson, former Collection Manager in the Department of Photography and Archive Assistant in the Ryerson and Burnham Archives, will discuss the materials contained in the archives and what they reveal about Penn’s life and work. While the artist’s oeuvre spans multiple genres, from fashion photography to still life and street scenes, Derrickson will examine Penn’s ethnographic studies, including the methods he used and how his images vary from other ethnographic work within the broader history of photography.