A Notebook at Random [Hardcover]

Irving Penn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2004

From his very first photograph, made on assignment for Vogue in 1943, to startlingly fresh images that he continues to make for that magazine today at age 87, Irving Penn again and again shows an uncanny ability to surprise the world with his art. Far from a typical career retrospective, A NOTEBOOK AT RANDOM is a revelation. Included here are some of Penn's signature images, along with the rough sketches and line drawings that provide a window into ideas and images in the making. The book is populated with artists, writers, and models whose lives intersected with Penn's: Picasso looks out at us with that timeless intensity that characterizes an Irving Penn portrait. Many of the photographs are alternate poses or torn test fragments, pages from his personal 'notebook'; some are newer-found discoveries, including a previously unpublished portrait of Truman Capote. Some of the most striking pages in this 'notebook' reproduce Penn's painted photographs and mixed-media works, images so layered and exquisitely constructed that they resemble Cubist assemblages. With brief text excerpts and notations from Penn throughout, this is the most intimate and arresting book yet from one of the most admired artists of our time.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Irving Penn was born in 1917. He studied design with Alexey Brodovitch at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art and, in 1943, produced his first color photograph, a still life for the cover of Vogue. In a career of more than sixty years, he has made an extensive and influential body of work in portraiture, fashion, and still life. Mr. Penn is the author of several books, including Moments Preserved (1960), Worlds in a Small Room (1974), Flowers (1980), Passage (1991), Still Life (2000), and Earthly Bodies (2002).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Bulfinch (November 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821261924
• ISBN-13: 978-0821261927
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 0.8 x 12.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #515,048 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Too much and not enough, November 1, 2004

By 

D. Johnson (Palo Alto, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Notebook at Random (Hardcover)

This is unusual because it has virtually no written text. Thus, it is not for those who don't know Irving Penn, unless they are adventurous students of photography. This is evidently a collection of random works which together form a map of Penn's artistic mind. It is like a conversation with him about some of his work.
It contains sketches and photographs presented un-pretentiously, one on a page. Each one is a key or entry point into Penn's work and a hinge between him and the world of art and culture of his time. If you are not fresh off the turnip truck this is a book that may take a year to read as you think about each image and the infinite connections it has. If you are serious about photography and don't know Penn and his influence, this book will last you a lifetime as you study his sketch of the tree of those who influenced him. Any of his contemporaries mentioned on the tree could easily have erased his own name and put Irving Penn in his place, I think.
My favorites are his messing with his portrait of John Marin, his unusual portrait of Barnett Newman, and other sketches and scribblings on or about some of his familiar work. I was struck by his photographs of the street, and some other subjects few of us have ever seen. This book is revealing in much the same way as Earthly Bodies.
If you just like great photographs, this is a thought provoking, warm and modest tribute to one of the architects of the medium. If you are an artist and can't imagine being 87 and able to produce a random notebook this rich, you have a lot of work to do.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thanks Mr. Penn., August 6, 2006

By 

ld (Bozeman, MT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Notebook at Random (Hardcover)

Irving Penn is a wonderful photographer and this book is a unique opportunity for any serious student of photography (or Pro) to peak over the shoulder of a master. Penn's technical ability and sense of composition has always placed him in a unique position whether for Vogue magazine, Gianni Versace ads, or personal work. Unlike his other photo books "A Notebook at Random" addresses the ideas behind the images by showing the minimal notes and insightful line drawings that were the blue prints for some of his images. Thanks Mr. Penn for being so generous.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Irving Penn "A Notebook At Random", August 18, 2005

By 

Carl R. Davidson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Notebook at Random (Hardcover)

We often do not get the chance to view the notes, sketches, and thoughts that an artist goes through along side with the final piece, with this book that is what you are getting. This is not a book that biographies' the life and works of Irving Penn chronologically. Instead the book is fashioned in a random order, which gives us an insight into the inner workings of Irving Penn as a person.

Some of the highlights of this book are the amount of photographs which have never before been published or seen by the public, along with many of his signature pieces throughout his career. This book truly gives us a better understanding into the raw endowment, originality, and involvement as a photographic engineer and a daring artist.