ARTIST

The artist I chose to analyze is Irving Penn. He is an American-born photographer known as one of the twentieth century’s great photographers.

Penn mostly created photographs for fashion magazines such as Vogue. The intent of his photographs is to capture the key characteristics of the subject to present a certain style.

Irving Penn is accustomed to focusing on the face of the subject. He also likes to incorporate the gestures of the subject. In many of his photographs, the subject is either holding an object or touching their face. Most of his portraits are in black in white. He does this to capture the features of the subject. 

I selected Irving Penn as my artist of inspiration because his images are naturally stunning because of their simplicity. They consist of only the subjects and do not rely on too many props and a flashy background. Also, they seem unedited. The photographs capture beauty in their simplicity. 

All of the photos have the subject touching their faces with their hands. They are black and white. The expressions of the faces are distinct because the geometrical features of the subjects’ faces are effectively captured. Irving Penn accomplishes this by using the formal elements of shape and tone in these photographs. 

CONTENT

The subject of the photograph seems to be a middle-aged man.  

There is only one person in this photograph. He is the subject of the photograph. He looks like a middle-aged man. He has long and curly hair that looks combed back so that his forehead is showing. If the photograph wasn’t black and white, the man would have several white hairs. The features of his body are strongly highlighted. For example, his strange chin and wrinkles on his hands are very noticeable. The man covers one of his eyes with one of his hands. His body seems to be tilted, so one side of his face shows more than the other. His uncovered eye looks directly at the viewer. 

PHOTOGRAPHIC ATTRIBUTES

Irving Penn would have seen the entire subject instead of just his upper body. He would also be able to see the subject in colour instead of black and white. 

When looking at this photo, the attention of the viewer is directed to the eye of the subject. The focus of the photograph is the eye of the subject because it is at the center. Naturally, the audience will look at the center of the photograph. 

Lines highlight the textures in this photograph. Textures range from the hair of the subject to the shirt and jumper that he’s wearing. Moreover, the dark shades contrast the light shades of this photograph and make lighter portions stand out more. The surrounding areas in the photo are mostly dark shades, and the light shades are mostly in the center. Then, in the middle of the light shades, there suddenly appears to be a black eye staring at the viewer. It stands out. As a result, the use of lighting further draws the attention of the audience to the center. 

STYLE & GENRE

If I could describe the style of the photograph using one adjective, it would be “intimidating.” This is because I feel taken aback every time I look at the photo. 

MEANING /INTENT

Mood: This picture intimidates me because the lighting and focus force my attention to a certain part of the photograph. It’s like I have no control over what I’m focusing on in the photograph. 

Intention: This photo was most likely used in a fashion magazine, so the intention of Irving Penn was to make it capture the attention of the audience. I could use the same intention in my photographs to capture the attention of the audience.