Getty Acquires Landmark ‘Cuzco’ Photographs by Irving Penn

Cuzco Children, negative 1948; print 1978. Irving Penn (American, 1917-2009) Platinum-palladium print, 49.8 x 51.4 cm. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation, made possible by an anonymous donor. Irving Penn, Vogue, © Condé Nast

The J. Paul Getty Museum has acquired a major set of photographs from Irving Penn’s Cuzco series, a body of work that marked a turning point in the photographer’s career.

The acquisition, made through a donation from The Irving Penn Foundation, includes 189 prints from Penn’s Cuzco series: 178 gelatin silver prints and 11 platinum-palladium prints. The gift also comprises a book maquette titled Christmas in Cuzco and the February 15, 1949, and December 1949 issues of American Vogue, where related photographs were first published.

Cuzco Man, Woman, and Crying Infant, negative 1948; print 1989. Irving Penn (American, 1917-2009). Platinum-palladium print, 25.6 x 24.8 cm. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation, made possible by an anonymous donor. © The Irving Penn Foundation

“This acquisition transforms the Getty Museum into one of the most comprehensive repositories of photographs by Irving Penn,” says Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle, and Robert Tuttle Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “When coupled with Penn’s Small Trades series, a set of 252 gelatin silver and platinum-palladium prints acquired in 2008 and exhibited in 2009, the Cuzco series makes the Getty a key resource for the study and display of Penn’s work, while also building upon the Museum’s efforts to expand the representation of communities in our collection.”

James Ganz, senior curator of photographs at the Getty, adds, “Our curatorial staff is excited to consider the multiple ways in which these photographs will activate our program. They encourage us to build our holdings of works by Peruvian and other Latin American photographers that similarly document and celebrate the lives and traditions of indigenous peoples.”

Penn created the Cuzco series during a trip to Peru in December 1948. Following a fashion assignment in Lima for Vogue, he traveled to Cuzco (also Cusco), the ancient Incan capital, and rented a local portrait studio for three days. Using a Rolleiflex camera, he produced more than 2,000 portraits and street scenes. Upon returning to New York, he selected images for printing as gelatin silver prints, labeling each with titles and print dates. Over the following decades, he revisited the project repeatedly, producing 178 gelatin silver and 12 platinum-palladium prints, with two images printed in both processes.

Penn worked in Cusco during the Christmas holidays, when indigenous residents came to the city to sell crafts. He noted, “When subjects arrived to be photographed, they found me instead of [the proprietor]. Instead of them paying me, I paid them for posing, a very confusing affair.”

The Cuzco portraits represent a pivotal moment in Penn’s career. Unlike his earlier work photographing famous figures within confined studio corners, these portraits depicted everyday people in an open setting. This shift allowed the subjects to present themselves freely, prompting Penn to remove the studio walls in his later work and allow his sitters greater agency. One notable image Cuzco Children, depicts a brother and sister who are barefoot and dressed in local clothing, leaning on a small side table with their hands linked.

Image credits: All photos courtesy of The J. Paul Getty Museum.