Irving Penn (1917-2009) 'Butcher, London', 1950 Platinum-palladium print, printed 1976; signed, titled, dated, numbered 'P1333', editioned '24/38,' and annotated in pencil, initialed in ink, the photographer's 'Deacidified', 'Hand-coated by the photographer', Condé Nast copyright/reproduction rights, and edition information stamps, all on the reverse, framed. 19 1/2 x 15 1/4 in. (49.5 x 38.7 cm.) sheet 22 1/2 x 18 1/2 in. (57.2 x 47.7 cm.) Footnotes: Provenance Private Collection, New York Thence by descent to the present owner in 2023 Literature Vogue Britannica, 'Small Trades', February 1951, p. 76 Irving Penn, Moments Preserved (New York, 1960), p. 165 Irving Penn: Passage (New York, 1991), p. 99 Irving Penn: Small Trades (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2009), pl. 170 Maria Morris Hambourg and Jeff L. Rosenheim, Irving Penn: Centennial (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2017), pl. 96 Note In the summer of 1950, while on assignment in Paris to photograph the couture collections for Vogue, Irving Penn used his down time to begin a project he had long envisioned: a contemporary retelling of the petits métiers, or 'small trades.' His inspiration stemmed from a deep admiration for Eugène Atget's photographs of Parisian street vendors, made 50 years prior and built upon a centuries-old tradition of rendering urban workers in portraiture. Over the following year, Penn made his first group of images in France and then geographically extended the series to London and New York. His subjects were recruited from the street and arrived at his sunlit studio in their work clothes, carrying the tools of their trades. He offered each tradesman the same predetermined fee for their time and willingness to participate. Unlike Atget, Penn posed his sitters against the same matte-grey, worn theatrical backdrop and illuminated them only with natural light. In contrast, Atget (and others) elected to photograph their subjects in situ to emphasize the context of their professions. Penn's departure from this model was intentional: removing workers from their environs did not simply isolate them but, in essence, transformed them. In the same setting he used to photograph the upper echelons of the fashion and cultural worlds, Penn gave each of his tradespeople his focused attention and imbued every portrait with a quiet elegance and dignity. Butcher, London is one of the most engaging images to emerge from Penn's portraits taken in September 1950 in a borrowed painter's studio in Chelsea. The London sessions stood out to Penn in the way his subjects comported themselves. He recounted, 'It seemed to [the Londoners] the most logical thing in the world to be recorded in their work clothes. They arrived at the studio, always on time, and presented themselves to the camera with a seriousness and pride that was quite endearing.' (Irving Penn, Worlds in a Small Room, p. 7). In February 1951, Vogue Britannica published twenty-four images from Penn's London sessions, including the present image. The caption stated: 'The Butcher, a traditionally cheerful and rubicund figure, knives and saw in hand, his striped blue apron and boater the now almost vestigial badges of his highly skilled craft. With the baker and the candlestick maker, his trade is as old as nursery rhymes.' Containing more than 250 portraits in its entirety, the 'Small Trades' series is one of the defining achievements of Penn's storied career. Prints can be found in a multitude of important institutional collections, including the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, which acquired a landmark 252 photographs from 'Small Trades' in 2008. Images of Butcher, London are exceedingly rare to market. At the time of this writing, it is believed that only 3 other prints from this edition have been offered at auction. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing