Irving Penn. Small Trades

Virginia A. Heckert and Anne Lacoste.

Los Angeles. The J. Paul Getty Museum. 2009. First edition, second printing. Oatmeal cloth-bound boards, dust jacket. 272 pages. With 259 tritone illustrations. 315 x 250mm (12½ x 9¾"). 2.3kg. 9780892369966. English. Good, in very good dust jacket; light shelf wear, over-opened at front hinge, 'Staff Book Sale, Not For Re-Sale' stamp to half-title, slight yellowing to margins of pages.

In 1950 and 1951 Irving Penn created a large series of portraits of workers with their traditional work clothes and tools. The portraits were shot in studios in Paris, London and New York. Over 200 photographs from the series are reproduced here; there is a contortionist, a lady acrobat, a charwoman, a head waiter, a chimney sweep, a sailor... The book includes an interview with Edmonde Charles-Roux who assisted Penn with the Paris portraits.