Irving Penn (1917-2009) Cuzco Children, 1948 Platinum-palladium print, printed 1973; flush-mounted to aluminum, signed, dated, numbered '1213', editioned '10/60,' and extensively annotated in pencil, a typed credit label, and the photographer's 'Deacidified', 'Hand-coated by the photographer', and edition information stamps, all on the reverse, framed. 19 5/8 x 20 3/8 in. (49.8 x 51.8 cm.) sheet 22 x 24 7/8 in. (55.9 x 63.2 cm.) Footnotes: Provenance Private Collection, New York Thence by descent Private Collection, Long Island Literature Irving Penn: Photographs in Platinum Metals - Images 1947-1975 (New York, 1977), n.p. John Szarkowski, Irving Penn (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1984), pl. 59 Irving Penn, Worlds in a Small Room (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1974), p. 13 Irving Penn, Passage: A Work Record (New York, 1991), p. 61 Sarah Greenough, Irving Penn: Platinum Prints (Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2005), pl. 15 Maria Morris Hambourg and Jeff L. Rosenheim, Irving Penn: Centennial (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2017), pl. 50 Note In his 1974 book, Worlds in a Small Room, Irving Penn recounted his 1948 journey to Cuzco, Peru: 'Cuzco is a mountain town about two miles up in the Peruvian Andes. In 1948 a two-motor plane made the lumbering climb up from Lima only once a week, on Sundays, and returned the same afternoon. Once you were in Cuzco, you were there for seven days... I stayed behind in Peru in December 1948 after an assignment photographing dresses for Vogue in Lima. The rest of our photographic party having left for New York with the film, I decided to spent Christmas in Cuzco, the town I had heard about and had a hunch about.' (p. 10) Penn spent his first three days in Cuzco recovering from altitude sickness. Once recuperated, he discovered a studio that belonged to Martin Chambi, a local portrait photographer. It provided a perfect place for Penn to work since it featured natural overhead lighting, stone floors, and a cloth backdrop. He rented the studio for three days during the Christmas holiday and took a series of astounding portraits. Penn was fascinated with the Peruvian people he encountered during his visit: 'From the very first glimpse the look of the inhabitants enchanted me - small, tight little ¾-scale people, wandering aimlessly and slowly in the streets of the town. Because of everyone's small size, it was difficult to guess ages.' (p. 10) The most celebrated portrait that Penn took in Cuzco presents a brother and sister who were visiting Cuzco from the countryside. The pair lean against a piano stool that helps to visualize their small stature. While their expressions remain inscrutable, their clasped hands express their deep affection for one another. Other platinum-palladium prints of Cuzco Children from the same edition of 60 as the present work are in the following collections: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2019.103.3), gifted by The Irving Penn Foundation in 2019; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (2002.119.26). For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing