Dancer

by Irving Penn, Anne Wilkes Tucker (introduction), Alexandra Beller

63 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2002

About the author

Irving Penn was an American photographer known for his portraiture and fashion photography.

Reviews

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly, a clarification — this book is by Irving Penn, not Sylvia Wolf; Wolf was the curator of photography at the Whitney where this exhibition of photographs was displayed (in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston). Dancer: Photographs of Alexandra Beller contains 27 plates, all nude photographs of dancer Alexandra Baller. Penn took these when he was 82 (!) and while they are wonderfully reminiscent of his earlier series of fleshy nudes (Earthly Bodies: Irving Penn's Nudes, 1949-50), they are not a rehashing of his groundbreaking series. Dancer stands solidly as a reworking of the platinum print medium and of Renaissance-esque nudes that evoke vitality and fertility. The book is hard to find these days (alas, the best art books are always out of print), but well worth it!