Mar 23, 2023
Black & White Vogue Cover (Jean Patchett), New York
1950, printed 1968
Irving Penn (American, 1917–2009)
In 1950 Penn photographed the French couture collections for Vogue in his Paris studio using natural light and black-and-white film. The results exemplified the artist's strong graphic sensibilities and surprised readers of the magazine. Model Jean Patchett fashioned black lipstick out of mascara, and the Russian-born art director Alexander Liberman paired the image with a bold typeface -Vogue's first black-and-white cover since 1932.