Irving Penn (1917-2009)

Platinum-palladium print. On the reverse, signed, titled and dated Cleaning Women, London 1950, numbered 7/32, annotated Platinum-palladium print made September 1976 and P 1383 in pencil by the photographer, with the photographer's copyright stamp with date 1951 in pencil, with stamps 'Hand-coated by the photographer', 'Deacidified' and 'In addition to 32 numbered prints of this image in platinum metals, unnumbered, but signed, silver prints not exceeding a total of 8 may exist.' with numbering and the photographer's monogram in pencil.

Marlborough Gallery, New York

Irving Penn, Passage. A Work Record, London, Jonathan Cape, 1991, ill. p. 98 (alternative title: Charwomen, London, 1950);
Virgina A. Heckert/ Anne Lacoste, Irving Penn. Small Trades, Los Angeles, Getty Publications, 2009, ill. p. 85 (alternative title: Charwomen, London, 1950).

This print is in excellent condition. It is a superb platinum-palladium print on Arches paper. There is some very light yellowing of approx. 1 cm visible in the margin around the image which corresponds to the sight area of the mount. There is a very light handling fold in the lower right quadrant in the image and one very light handling fold near the lower left edge in the image, both visible only in raking light. There are two more very light handling folds in the lower part of the print but those are only visible on the reverse and not on recto. There is a small very light stain on the paper in the lower margin at left outside the image. The corners are very slightly worn due to mounting in photo corners.
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