Exploring Kinship in Art: Irving Penn: Kinship at Pace Gallery, Curated by Hank Willis Thomas

Dates: November 15 – December 21, 2024
Location: Pace Gallery, 508 W 25th Street, New York, NY

The Pace Gallery in New York City will host Irving Penn: Kinship, a thoughtfully curated exhibition by artist Hank Willis Thomas, celebrating the extraordinary career of legendary photographer Irving Penn. Running from November 15 to December 21, 2024, the show offers an intimate look at Penn’s timeless works, curated and contextualized by Thomas to highlight the universal humanity that courses through Penn’s oeuvre.

Irving Penn: A Master of the Lens

Irving Penn (1917–2009), celebrated for his transformative contributions to fashion photography, portraiture, and still life, left an enduring legacy over a 70-year career. His work for Vogue redefined visual storytelling in the postwar era, showcasing both innovation and technical brilliance. Beyond the pages of magazines, Penn pioneered methods in the darkroom, particularly through platinum-palladium printing, creating works that exude richness and depth.

This exhibition places Penn’s global travels and intimate portraiture, including images from his Worlds in a Small Room series, at its heart. These works, produced during Penn’s travels to places like Cuzco, Morocco, and New Guinea, provide a window into his approach of using a portable studio to create portraits imbued with dignity and authenticity.

Hank Willis Thomas: Curating Through Connection

Thomas, known for his multidisciplinary work that interrogates perspective and framing, brings a fresh curatorial lens to Penn’s work. Inspired by Penn’s ability to capture the essence of his subjects in a single frame, Thomas situates the photographs within a star-shaped installation. This innovative structure echoes the simple plywood studio corners Penn used and invites viewers into a shared space of connection.

Thomas’s curatorial statement highlights Penn’s ability to elevate the ordinary:

“In Penn’s work, I see a profound reverence for the overlooked and the mundane. By juxtaposing these images, I want to highlight how Penn’s meticulous attention to detail elevates the ordinary to the extraordinary.”

Highlights of the Exhibition

• Portraiture and Fashion: From Penn’s iconic images of cultural luminaries to his still lifes of everyday objects, the exhibition offers a comprehensive view of his artistic range.
• Innovative Presentation: Thomas’s installation encourages viewers to engage with Penn’s work as an immersive experience, bridging the gap between subject and observer.
• Universal Themes: The pairing of Penn’s photographs reflects a transcendent kinship across cultures, eras, and subjects.

A Broader Artistic Context

Concurrent with Kinship, Thomas’s own solo exhibition, Kinship of the Soul, will be on view at Pace’s London gallery. A retrospective of Penn’s work, organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in collaboration with The Irving Penn Foundation, will also open in Spain on November 23, 2024. These overlapping exhibitions underscore the lasting impact of Penn’s artistry and his continued relevance in the global art conversation.

About Pace Gallery

Since its founding in 1960, Pace Gallery has become a beacon for modern and contemporary art. With locations spanning New York, London, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, the gallery fosters connections between audiences and groundbreaking artists. Pace’s commitment to its artists is reflected in its dynamic programming, which includes exhibitions, public installations, and scholarly publications.

TLDR

Irving Penn: Kinship at Pace Gallery in New York (November 15–December 21, 2024) showcases the iconic photography of Irving Penn, curated by Hank Willis Thomas. The exhibition explores themes of connection and humanity through an innovative installation echoing Penn’s portable studio. Penn’s celebrated career, spanning fashion, portraiture, and travel, is highlighted alongside concurrent exhibitions in London and Spain.

Tags: Irving Penn, Hank Willis Thomas, Pace Gallery, New York Art Exhibitions, Photography, Fashion Photography, Portraiture, Platinum-Palladium Prints, Worlds in a Small Room, Contemporary Art