Irving Penn at The National Gallery of Art

[dr bob]

Why not? Count me in.

[Dave Wooten]

Is it better to fly into DC or Baltimore? Any world travelers have some thoughts on that?

[Kerik]

C6,

Thanks for posting this. Do you know if that show is going to travel at all?

Kerik

[c6h6o3]

C6,

Thanks for posting this. Do you know if that show is going to travel at all?

Kerik

Your guess is as good as mine. I would suspect not, as the photographs were given as a gift by the artist and are part of the museum's permanent collection. I have a contact with the curator of photography there. I'll ask.

[c6h6o3]

Is it better to fly into DC or Baltimore? Any world travelers have some thoughts on that?

Depends on where you'll be staying. Reagan National is the most convenient to downtown, but traffic is the overarching concern in this town. If you're not going to be staying downtown, Dulles (if you're staying in Virginia) or BWI (for anywhere in Maryland outside the Beltway) is probably better.

[c6h6o3]

I am going to do my best to catch this show....I really want to see these prints in person.....maybe a possibility for an apug forum lunch at the gallery?

Give me a call. I'll be back down there many times. 301-758-6418. The courtyard restaurant between the two Wings serves an elegant lunch, BTW.

[bjorke]

As a resident of the Left Coast I'm terribly jealous! I was hoping to see some Penn platinums at Photo San Francisco but no luck. Too expensive I guess. The recent Fraenkel show here in SF was all silver iirc.

One the issue of "blown out" -- Penn was known in the 50's for being a regular user of ferricyanide to deliberately paint-white edges etc. If you look at the portraits he did at that time, say the "Small Crafts" or French writers, etc, it becomes quite evident once you know what to expect. And it's a strong aspect of what makes a Penn portrait different from other similarly-staged portraits of the same period.

[c6h6o3]

As a resident of the Left Coast I'm terribly jealous! I was hoping to see some Penn platinums at Photo San Francisco but no luck. Too expensive I guess. The recent Fraenkel show here in SF was all silver iirc.

One the issue of "blown out" -- Penn was known in the 50's for being a regular user of ferricyanide to deliberately paint-white edges etc. If you look at the portraits he did at that time, say the "Small Crafts" or French writers, etc, it becomes quite evident once you know what to expect. And it's a strong aspect of what makes a Penn portrait different from other similarly-staged portraits of the same period.

A buddy of mine went to went to undergrad school with the Curator of Photography at the National Gallery. I'll have him ask her about any other venues.

This "enhanced edge effect" you describe is very apparent in the portrait of Edmund Wilson, c. 1950, and the portrait next to it, which is of two people - someone I don't know and H.L. Mencken, also made in 1950 (as was I). Mencken's a personal hero of mine, so I found it most enthralling. But how would he do that with a platinum print made from an enlarged negative? Does bleaching work with the platinum process?

What I'm talking about, though, was large expanses of highlight areas (i.e. skin tones) and not edge effects. He really pushed the envelope on highlight detail. They're still just awesome.

[nze]

I think that Penn made some sharpening mask in the enlarging step of his negative so the final large negative is really sharp and got quite big edge effect.

[Dave Wooten]

Dr. Bob, and C6, thanks for the info, the courtyard cafe sounds good, i will keep in touch if I can pull off the flight schedule.....will probably fly into Bmore then....

Kerik you will have to leave your drumsticks at home.....they frown on that sort of thing out there....