Irving Penn
Eye in Keyhole

Image Not Available for Eye in Keyhole

© Condé Nast

Eye in Keyhole
Image Not Available for Eye in Keyhole
ArtistAmerican, 1917–2009
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Eye in Keyhole
Date1953, printed 1984
Place depictedNew York City, New York, United States
MediumDye transfer print
DimensionsImage: 19 1/2 × 13 3/16 in. (49.5 × 33.5 cm)
Sheet: 20 3/8 × 14 in. (51.8 × 35.6 cm)
Mount: 22 5/8 × 16 1/4 in. (57.4 × 41.3 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Manfred Heiting, by exchange, and The Irving Penn Foundation
Object number2013.23
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

Although recognized as one of the best portrait and fashion photographers of the 20th century, Irving Penn made series of works that were separate from his commercial career. Many of his personal pictures investigate the photographic medium. "I myself have always stood in awe of the camera," Penn said. "I recognize it for the instrument it is, part Stradivarius, part scalpel." Eye in Keyhole references this duality. The eye is both a subject and a stand-in, peering through a keyhole like the photographer peers through the lens of a camera, suggesting that both have the potential to unlock visual worlds.


ProvenanceThe Irving Penn Foundation, New York; purchased by MFAH, 2013.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in ink within a rectangle on verso center: EYE IN KEYHOLE / (NEW YORK, 1953)
Inscribed in ink and pencil on verso upper left: REF:14734
Signed in ink on verso lower left within a circle and name stamped below: Irving Penn / IRVING PENN
Stamped on verso center with dates in script: PHOTOGRAPH BY IRVING PENN / Copyright © 1954 RENEWED 1982 by / THE CONDE NAST PUBLICATIONS INC. / not to be reproduced without / written permission of the / copyright owner.

Stamped in ink verso center: SIGNED PRINTS OF THIS PHOTOGRAPH / NOT EXCEDING 17. [number in pencil]

Stamped in ink verso center: DYE TRANSFER PRINT MADE 1984. / IP [date and initials in script in ink]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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1975, printed 1976
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1969, printed 1991
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