Ballet Society, New York

1948, printed 1980

Irving Penn

Associated Names
Irving Penn

Artist, American, 1917 - 2009

The image shows a woman standing at the center and three men sitting on the floor around her. The woman stands straight with her hands on the walls beside her. She has distinct facial features and is wearing an elaborate hairstyle with leaf decorations. She wears a one-shoulder gown with a cut-out design. One of her legs is exposed, and she stands against a plain backdrop. The man on the left is seated on the floor in a casual pose, wearing a patterned suit. The man in the middle is resting his head on his hand, wearing a pinstripe suit. The man on the right is seated with one leg crossed, wearing a three-piece suit with a bow tie. The backdrop is a simple, light-colored wall that extends to the floor, focusing on the subjects.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    platinum/palladium print on Rives BFK paper mounted on aluminum

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Irving Penn

  • Dimensions

    image: 57.47 × 57.79 cm (22 5/8 × 22 3/4 in.)
    sheet (visible): 48.26 × 59.37 cm (19 × 23 3/8 in.)
    overall: 76.2 × 66.04 × 1.27 cm (30 × 26 × 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2002.119.25

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Irving Penn; gift to NGA, 2002.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2015

  • In Light of the Past: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of Collecting Photographs at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, May 3 – July 26, 2015

Inscriptions

center verso in graphite: 2616 (circled) / Ballet Society (underlined) / 14/15 / Rives Paper on Aluminum / Multiple Coating and Printing / (1) Platinum-palladium / (2) Platinum-palladium / Print made June-July 1980; center verso: artist's copyright stamp with graphite addition: 1948 renewed 1976; stamp: Hand-coated by the photographer; with graphite addition: Irving Penn; stamp: In addition to 15 (graphite addition) numbered prints of this image / in platinum metals, unnumbered, but signed silver / prints not exceeding a total of 13 (graphite addition) may exist.; lower right in graphite: IP.241.Y; upper right in graphite: JK

Wikidata ID

Q64155324

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