Beautiful work - Very well printed and binded - It's very interesting to see that piece of work made in a very simple way, only with available natural light and to compare gelatin silver prints with platinum ones.
One of the most interesting Penn work.

As I write this, Irving Penn recently passed, leaving me very sad that one of the world's greatest photographers ever will not be making new photographs. My first exposure to the "Small Trades" opus was via an early 1960s Photography Annual. I was blow away by the masterful photographs then; they looked completely un-like anthing else I'd seen then and they continue to have an arrested in time quality now.
Published to document the inception of the "Small Trades" collection by the Getty, this book is a must have for photo buffs and for me recaptures the magic of the first time experience, and then some. Among other fascinating nuances, book shows several spreads of early silver prints beside later platinum-palladium refinements; I think close study shows Penn's devotion to and perfection of minimalism. The quality of reproduction here is really excellent.

THE BOOK CAME ALMOST BEFORE I ORDERED IT AND IN PERFECT CONDITION. THANK YOU.

Irving Penn is an established giant in the field of photography having supplied the editors of Vogue Magazine with his elegant fashion photography for over fifty years. While many would question such a famous glamour photographer's interest in the beauty of the common man, in this excellent volume, a catalogue from the current J. Paul Getty Museum exhibition curated by Virginia A. Heckert and Anne Lacoste, evidence is presented and takes a memory trip back to the years 1950 and 1951 when Penn focused his considerable talent on photographing the people who do the daily jobs considered less than glamorous in the cities of New York, London and Paris.

Using the studio setting in much the way his fashion images were created, Penn uses for each of these portraits a textured wall that captures an array of light and shadow in subtle ways and in front of this backdrop he invited bakers, cleaners, maids, and craftsmen of all trades to pose, face forward, alone and in pairs, and gives these simple 'models' the same treatment of dramatic light and shadow eloquence that had made him famous. The results are an embarrassment of riches of capturing the most genteel vision of 'Small Trades' available in one collection. This is a book of beautiful art as well as an appreciation of the people who make our lives work smoothly. A fine reminder of Irving Penn's enormous talent. Grady Harp, November 09

These are ALL the photographs of working people and their trade that Irving Penn took (you can find some of them in his former book "Worlds in a small room"). Most of the time, the expression of dignity and seriousness by these people is stunning. As always with Penn, the frame and the light are perfect, real works of art "painted" with light, shadow and... exceptional talent. A must have if you like the work of this photography giant.