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Still Life with Mouse, New York

A work made of gelatin silver print.
Copyright The Irving Penn Foundation

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  • A work made of gelatin silver print.

Date:

1947

Artist:

Irving Penn
American, 1917–2009

About this artwork

In a career that spanned almost 70 years, Irving Penn produced groundbreaking work in the overlapping industries of fashion and fine–art photography. Still life played a central role for Penn, from his very first cover for Vogue in 1943 (an image of an arrangement of fashion accessories) to photographs made near the end of his life of vessels that he and his wife, Lisa Fonssagrives–Penn, had collected during their travels. An homage to the domestic interiors of 17th–century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, Still Life with Mouse is one such early example of Penn’s interest in the still–life genre. Vogue art director Alexander Liberman asked Penn to compose “the most symbolic picture of a farm kitchen” for a January 1948 “farm” issue of House and Garden. The published image was a cropped version of this photograph, in color, that included a model seated at left.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Irving Penn

Title

Still Life with Mouse, New York

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1947

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Edition

of 78

Inscriptions

Inscribed verso: STILL LIFE (WITH MOUSE) / NEW YORK, 1942 [in a box] ; stamped and inscribed verso: PHOTOGRAPH BY IRVING PENN / Copyright © 1983 by Irving Penn, COURTESY OF VOGUE / Not to be reproduced without / written permission of the copyright owner and / THE CONDE NAST PUBLICATIONS INC. ; inscribed verso: 13590 P1 ; stamped and inscribed verso: SIGLED, SILVER PRINTS OF THIS NEGATIVE NOT EXCEEDING 78. ; inscribed verso: REF. 7110 ; signed and stamped verso: Irving Penn / IRVING PENN [in a circle] ; inscribed verso: Print made c. 1947. / IP:.

Dimensions

Image: 24.6 × 18.8 cm (9 11/16 × 7 7/16 in.); Paper: 25.3 × 20.3 cm (10 × 8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Irving Penn

Reference Number

1996.163

Copyright

Copyright The Irving Penn Foundation

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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