The J. Paul Getty Museum has acquired a major group of photographs by the celebrated twentieth-century American photographer Irving Penn. The donation, from The Irving Penn Foundation, comprises a primary set of photographs from the Cuzco series: 189 prints, including 178 gelatin silver prints and 11 platinum-palladium prints. Also included are a book maquette titled Christmas in Cuzco and the February 15, 1949, and December 1949 issues of American Vogue, in which related photographs by Penn were first published.

“This acquisition transforms the Getty Museum into one of the most comprehensive repositories of photographs by Irving Penn,” says Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “When coupled with Penn’s Small Trades series, a set of 252 gelatin silver and platinum-palladium prints acquired in 2008 and exhibited in 2009, the Cuzco series makes the Getty a key resource for the study and display of Penn’s work, while also building upon the Museum’s efforts to expand the representation of communities in our collection.”

James Ganz, the Getty’s senior curator of photographs, adds “Our curatorial staff is excited to consider the multiple ways in which these photographs will activate our program. They encourage us to build our holdings of works by Peruvian and other Latin American photographers that similarly document and celebrate the lives and traditions of indigenous peoples.”

Penn created the Cuzco photographs during a trip to Peru in December 1948. Following a fashion assignment in Lima, he flew to Cuzco high in the Andes and rented a portrait studio for three days. Using a Rolleiflex camera, he produced more than 2,000 portraits and street scenes. After returning to New York, he began printing selected images as gelatin silver prints, carefully labeling them with titles and print dates. Penn returned to the project repeatedly between 1959 and 2002, ultimately producing 178 gelatin silver editions and 12 platinum-palladium editions to represent this body of work, with two images printed in both processes.

The Cuzco series marked the beginning of a multi-year body of work that Penn later published as Worlds in a Small Room (New York: Viking Press, 1974). In 2008, the Getty Museum acquired a primary set of Penn’s Small Trades series (2008.1.1–.252), which constitutes the second chapter of the larger Worlds in a Small Room project.

The Cuzco materials come directly from The Irving Penn Foundation archives and represents a core selection of work from the series. This generous gift was made possible with funding from an anonymous donor.

“The foundation is delighted to entrust this body of work to the care of such an esteemed institution,” says Tom Penn, executive director of The Irving Penn Foundation. “The Getty’s exceptional commitment to research and conservation, along with its dedication to preserving and showcasing Irving Penn’s artistic vision, makes it the perfect home for this series. My colleagues and I look forward to seeing how the museum’s scholarly interpretation of this material contributes to the broader cultural dialogue and inspires generations to come.” 

image left:

Cuzco Man, Woman, and Crying Infant, negative 1948; print 1989. Irving Penn (American, 1917-2009). Platinum-palladium print, 25.6 x 24.8 cm
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation, made possible by an anonymous donor. © The Irving Penn Foundation