Duke Ellington, New York

Artist Irving Penn (American, 1917 - 2009)

DateMay 19, 1948

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 9 1/2 x 7 3/8 inches (24.13 x 18.73 cm)
Framed: 19 3/4 x 16 3/4 inches (50.17 x 42.55 cm)

Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Object number2005.27.4350

InscribedSignature Signed in artist's hand Back of Mount Copyright see description Back of Mount Description: various copyright notices on back of mount: "Not to be reproduced without written permission of the copyright owner and Conde Nast Publications" "(c) 1984 Irving Penn, Courtesy of Vogue"

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionImage of a man wearing a suit and tie seated in a wooden chair placed in a narrow corner. His hands are in his lap with his left leg is slightly extended.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Black and White in America: Photography of the Civil Rights Era. The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 19 – October 3, 2004, no cat.

In the Public Eye: Photography and Fame. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 8 - June 15, 2008, no cat.

Gallery Label

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899-1974) was one of America's greatest musical talents, an enormously influential composer, band leader, and pianist. His many lifetime awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1969) and the French Legion of Honor (1973).

Gallery Label

In 1947, Irving Penn began a portrait series of celebrities posed in a small, fabricated corner in his studio. The walls of this confined space could be expanded or narrowed according to sitter. By limiting the space in which his models could move, Penn created an unusual dynamic that was comforting to some but constraining for others. Here, he pictures Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, one of America’s greatest musical talents.

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