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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Irving Penn
1992–1995
Gelatin silver proof print
2000.552
Irving Penn
1953, printed 1984
Dye transfer print
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Irving Penn
1968, printed 1989
Dye imbibition print
98.200
Irving Penn
April 30, 1948
Gelatin silver print
2002.1820
Irving Penn
1948, printed November 3, 1948
Gelatin silver print
2002.1824
Irving Penn
1972
Platinum/palladium print
91.990
Irving Penn
1972, printed 1978
Platinum/palladium print
91.985
Irving Penn
1949–1950
Gelatin silver print
91.986
Irving Penn
1950, printed July 1976
Platinum/palladium print
91.987
Irving Penn
1975, printed 1976
Platinum/palladium print
91.988