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A signed Irving Penn poster of his 1950 photograph 'Harlequin Dress.' Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Joerg Weigelt Auktionen.

Smithsonian acquires 100 Irving Penn photographs

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
A signed Irving Penn poster of his 1950 photograph 'Harlequin Dress.' Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Joerg Weigelt Auktionen.
A signed Irving Penn poster of his 1950 photograph ‘Harlequin Dress.’ Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Joerg Weigelt Auktionen.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Smithsonian American Art Museum is acquiring 100 photographs by the acclaimed portrait and fashion photographer Irving Penn.

The museum announced Friday that the Irving Penn Foundation was giving the Smithsonian a collection that includes rare street photographs from the 1930s and 1940s, images of postwar Europe and some of Penn’s most recognizable fashion and still-life images. The gift includes portraits of such figures as Agnes de Mille, Langston Hughes and Truman Capote.

Penn is known for images he produced for Vogue magazine. He died in 2009. Penn earlier donated 61 photographs spanning his career to the museum.

In a statement, museum Director Elizabeth Broun says the gift adds breadth and depth to the museum’s holdings.

The museum is planning an exhibition of 160 of the artist’s works for 2015.

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AP-WF-08-11-13 1959GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

A signed Irving Penn poster of his 1950 photograph 'Harlequin Dress.' Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Joerg Weigelt Auktionen.
A signed Irving Penn poster of his 1950 photograph ‘Harlequin Dress.’ Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Joerg Weigelt Auktionen.