Irving Penn
Food Still Life with Snails

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Artist Irving Penn American, 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

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

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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