The exhibition Irving Penn: Resonance is sublime. It will be on display on the second floor of the Palazzo Grassi through December 31st. This marks the first time that the Palazzo Grassi – Punta della Dogana – François Pinault Foundation has organized a photography exhibition.
The curators are Pierre Apraxine and Matthieu Humery. (See our interview with Apraxine) The exhibition consists of 140 photographs in 15 rooms. This is not a retrospective—it lacks much of the commercial work in fashion and the remarkable still lifes shot for Vogue over the years—but more of a “rereading” of Penn and his quest for the Holy Grail: the perfect print.
For Penn, the printing process was never finished. In thirty years, he would reprint the same image thirty times, each one different, each one renewed. That’s why we can never speak of “vintage” in Penn’s body of work.
Apraxine and Humery have developed an interesting approach to the photographer: Penn always took the same picture. Their conclusion is supported by something Penn once said: “It is all one thing.”
The exhibition catalogue will be available in July.
EXHIBITION
Resonance
Irving Penn
From April 13th to December 31st, 2014
Palazzo Grassi
Dorsoduro, 2
30123 Venezia
Italy
