Irving Penn, Lukas Foss (?), circa 1947-8
I came across this image perusing Irving Penn's corner portraits via google search. It was featured on someone's Pinterest as "subject unidentified". Source unkown - I'm curious where they found it. A message/comment I left on their post was not responded to and was deleted. :- (
A list of 1948 photographed subjects in the PASSAGE : A WORK RECORD (1991) book appendix led me to identifying the sitter as Lukas Foss - as most of these corner shots were done in that year, as well as the year prior. A personal search through all 1948 issues of Vogue did not turn this up amongst all the rest of the corner portraits he did at the time.
(I could go and request the 1947 Vogue archives, but these bound volumes are no longer locally available from my central library as they have all been moved to Iron Mountain facilities and are a pain-in-the-ass to request and gain access to. So much for "a library and collection accessible to all"! That's another story for another day.)
A stroll through Conde Nast's web archives and the Irving Penn Foundation website also comes up short. It's not featured in numerous PENN books that I have or to which I have access.
There is a different image of Foss featured in the March 1, 1945 issue of Vogue with some other musicians in an article entitled "Musicians In Your Eye". This appears to have been taken by Clifford Coffin, another one of my loved 20th-century photographers.
The corner portraits have long been a favorite of mine in my love of photography and portraiture. There's something about this good-looking gentleman and his awkward and casual pose - the handsome face, of course; the smart but rumpled tweed suit, his socks exposed; the charming shoes pressed up against the opposite wall.
I'll post another portrait/head-shot from around this time where he may be wearing the same suit.
