Irving Penn: Small Trades, Hamiltons Gallery/ Portraits, NPG | reviews, news & interviews
Irving Penn: Small Trades, Hamiltons Gallery/ Portraits, NPG
Irving Penn: Small Trades, Hamiltons Gallery/ Portraits, NPG
Penn photographed tradesman with as much care as he portrayed celebrities
Thursday, 11 March 2010
![](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/mast_image_landscape/public/mastimages/97a935595bd2614586903fc5e76b1e31.jpg?itok=ToDFhtks)
Irving Penn's Le Chevrier 'holds his box as proudly as an artist with his paints'The Irving Penn Foundation
This week I discovered Irving Penn’s little-known portraits of anonymous street traders, taken in Paris, London and New York between 1950 and 1951. Previously unseen in the UK, they are now appearing at Hamiltons’ Mayfair gallery: 33 examples from a series of almost 252 full-length portraits collectively titled Small Trades. While they lack the instant glamour of the celebrity Portraits currently showing at the National Portrait Gallery, these sensitive depictions of skilled street traders – including a Parisian cheese-seller, a London house painter, a New York flower delivery man - are refreshingly different from the refined quality of the celebrity prints.
This week I discovered Irving Penn’s little-known portraits of anonymous street traders, taken in Paris, London and New York between 1950 and 1951. Previously unseen in the UK, they are now appearing at Hamiltons’ Mayfair gallery: 33 examples from a series of almost 252 full-length portraits collectively titled Small Trades. While they lack the instant glamour of the celebrity Portraits currently showing at the National Portrait Gallery, these sensitive depictions of skilled street traders – including a Parisian cheese-seller, a London house painter, a New York flower delivery man - are refreshingly different from the refined quality of the celebrity prints.
They carried with them the smells from the streets where they worked amongst traffic, trains, machinery and hordes of people
Share this article
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more Visual arts
![Bill Viola](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Bill%20Viola_0.jpg?itok=OxrG5F3D)
![Sharpening the Saws, 1927, by Oleksandr Bohomazov. Oil on canvas](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/U%20saws.jpg?itok=J1bAOd6U)
![Children’s Game #40: Chivichanas, La Habana, Cuba, 2023 by Francis Alÿs](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Frances%20Chivichanas.jpg?itok=i_Y4i1U4)
![Freedom Hunters, 1977 by Gavin Jantjes, screenprint on paper](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Gavin%20Jantjes%20Freedom%20Hunters%201977%20Screen%20print%20on%20paper%20100%20%C3%97%2070%20cm%20Photo.%20Ann%20Purkis%20Image%20courtesy%20the%20artist%20Gavin%20Jantjes%20%C2%A9%20Gavin%20Jantes%2C%20licensed%20by%20DACS..jpg?itok=oJbrW2XX)
!['Supremely strange wall-mounted objects': part of Laura Aldridge's installation at Jupiter Artland](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/laura%20aldridge%20installation%20view%201%20by%20author%20%282%29small_0.jpg?itok=C8MKlSNg)
![Installation view of Revelations, 2024 by Judy Chicago at Serpentine North](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Chicago%201.jpeg?itok=NChDbymF)
!['The Roll Call', 1874 by Elizabeth Butler](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Now%20Elizabeth%20Butler%2C%20The%20Roll%20Call%2C%201874.jpg?itok=uzso8Rkh)
!['Muse', 1910](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Muse%2C%201910%204R00900_1000x1000_0.jpg?itok=mLF188qF)
![Gabriele Münter Listening (Portrait of Jawlensky), 1909](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Blue%20Gabriele%20Mu%CC%88nter%2C%20Listening%20%28Portrait%20of%20Jawlensky%29%2C%201909.%20Lenbachhaus%20Munich%2C%20Donation%20of%20Gabriele%20Mu%CC%88nter%2C%201957%20%C2%A9%20DACS%202024_0.jpg?itok=s_89ZOza)
!['Max Bill teaching Theory of Forms at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich', 1946, by Ernst Scheidegger](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/07.%20Ernst%20Scheideggersmall.jpg?itok=gw2iAMIl)
![Stephen Giddings playing himself](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/STEPHEN_Control%20Room%20Portrait_Still001_0.jpg?itok=h-nJZ6R5)
![View of the Boulevard du Temple, taken by Louis Daguerre in 1838 in Paris](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Fantastic%20Machine%20-%20PC%20Louis%20Daguerre.jpg?itok=hg0bFKZH)
Add comment