Irving Penn
Food Still Life with Snails

Image Not Available for Food Still Life with Snails

© Condé Nast

Food Still Life with Snails
Image Not Available for Food Still Life with Snails
ArtistAmerican, 1917–2009
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Food Still Life with Snails
Date1989, printed 1992
MediumDye transfer print
DimensionsImage: 21 5/8 × 18 1/8 in. (54.9 × 46 cm)
Sheet: 22 3/4 × 19 3/8 in. (57.8 × 49.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of The Irving Penn Foundation
Object number2013.24
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
DescriptionIn this illustration for a Vogue article on French cuisine, Irving Penn pushed the boundaries of the beautiful, toying with the line between appeal and disgust. He took the cooking ingredients as raw materials for a composition, without any concern for making them appetizing, and created an image that is captivating for its vacillation between lush beauty and shock.
ProvenanceThe Irving Penn Foundation, New York; given to MFAH, 2013.
Exhibition History“Made for Magazines: Iconic 20th-Century Photographs,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 9–May 4, 2014.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in graphite on verso upper left: REF: 16804
Inscribed in graphite on verso center within a rectangle: FOOD STILL LIFE WITH SNAILS / (NEW YORK, 1989)

Signed in graphite on verso center within a circle and ink stamp below: Irving Penn
Stamped on verso lower left with some marks in graphite: DYE TRANSFER PRINT MADE 1992
Stamped on verso lower right with number and initials in graphite: SIGNED, DYE TRANSFER PRINTS OF / THIS IMAGE NOT EXCEEDING 26. / IP.

Stamped on verso center: PHOTOGRAPH BY IRVING PENN / Copyright © 1989 by / THE CONDE NAST PUBLICATIONS INC. / Not to be reproduced without / written permission of the / copyright owner.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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1949–1950
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July 26, 1948
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December 23, 1948
Gelatin silver print
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c. 1939, printed 1983
Gelatin silver print with selenium toning
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