KenR
Well-known
I have just received my copy of Irving Penn's "Small Trades" which is simply amazing from several points of view. 1. the photographs are wonderful - several printed as both silver-gelatin and platinum. 2. the vanished world of 1950-51, when he did this work.
But there is another question - were all these people really anonymus? The "hockey player" on page 177 appears to be Chuck Rayner of the NY Rangers - actually quite well known at the time. Were any of the others actually "personalities" who at the time, required no name (as everyone then knew who they were)? The text suggests that Penn required a team of people to go out and round up (and pay) his subjects. But perhaps it really wasn't quite that way. Anyone with any knowledge of this?
But there is another question - were all these people really anonymus? The "hockey player" on page 177 appears to be Chuck Rayner of the NY Rangers - actually quite well known at the time. Were any of the others actually "personalities" who at the time, required no name (as everyone then knew who they were)? The text suggests that Penn required a team of people to go out and round up (and pay) his subjects. But perhaps it really wasn't quite that way. Anyone with any knowledge of this?