About This Artwork

Irving Penn
American, 1917–2009

Rochas Mermaid Dress, (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), Paris, 1950, printed June 1979

Platinum-palladium print, edition 8/25
50 x 50 cm (image); 63.1 x 56 cm (paper); 66.1 x 56 cm (mount)
Gift of Irving Penn, 1996.237

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

AIC, “Irving Penn: A Career in Photography,” November 23, 1997 - February 1, 1999; traveled to St. Petersburg, The Hermitage, March 15 - May 17, 1998; Hamburg, Germany, The Deichtorhallen, June 18 - September 6, 1998; Munich, Germany, Muncher Stadtmuseum, October 6, 1998 - February 21, 1999; San Francisco, California, The Friends of Photography, The Ansel Adams Center, July 27 - October 10, 1999; Tokyo, Japan, Metropolitan Museum of Photography, November 11,1999 - January 23, 2000; Houston, Texas, Museum of Fine Arts, March 25 - June 4, 2000; and Paris France, Maison Européene de la Photographie, September 12 - November 12, 2000, (Colin Westerbeck).

AIC, "Paris: Photographs from a Time that Was," August 13 - November 6, 2005, (David Travis).

Publication History

Hall-Duncan, Nancy. 1979. "The History of Fashion Photography". International Museum of Photography/Alpine Book Company, New York. p. 145. (non-AIC)

Gruber, L. Fritz, and Reinhold Misselbeck. 1983. "Glamour and fashion: L. Fritz Gruber zum 75. Geburtstag: Ausstellung im Studienraum der Graphischen Sammlung des Museums Ludwig, Köln, vom 20. April bis 3. Juli 1983." Exh. cat. Museum Ludwig, Köln. p.15, fig. 11.1. (non-AIC)

Westerbeck, Colin. 1997. “Irving Penn: A Career in Photography.” Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago and Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown and Company. cat. 72. pg. 179.

Travis, David. 2005. "Paris: Photographs from a Time that Was," Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press. p. 85.