Maison Européenne de la Photographie celebrates Irving Penn with photography exhibition in Paris
This autumn, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) opens its 30th anniversary season with a major exhibition dedicated to Irving Penn, the visionary photographer whose images helped define modern fashion photography. Running from 30 September 2026 to 17 January 2027, PENN & FASHION brings together more than 60 years of Penn’s work, tracing his extraordinary collaboration with Vogue and his lasting influence on the visual language of style.
Produced in collaboration with The Irving Penn Foundation and the Nicola Erni Collection, the exhibition is the largest presentation of Penn’s fashion photography at the Paris institution to date. It also celebrates the photographer’s longstanding relationship with the MEP, whose collection now includes more than one hundred of his prints, enriched by an exceptional gift from Tom Penn featuring works that once belonged to Penn’s wife and muse, Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn.
Organised chronologically, the exhibition follows Penn’s career from 1947 to 2008, revealing how his minimalist yet deeply expressive approach evolved alongside fashion itself.
Early galleries feature the post-war elegance of Dior and Balenciaga, photographed against simple studio backdrops that placed total focus on silhouette and craftsmanship. The 1960s and 1970s introduce the futuristic designs of André Courrèges and Emanuel Ungaro, while later rooms showcase the theatrical couture of Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix, and John Galliano.
Throughout every decade, Penn remained remarkably consistent: stripping away elaborate sets in favour of precise composition, natural light and an intense dialogue between photographer and subject. His images transformed editorial commissions into enduring works of art, bridging fashion, portraiture and fine art with unparalleled refinement.
A dedicated section explores Penn’s celebrated collaboration with Issey Miyake, one of the defining creative partnerships of late 20th-century fashion. Between 1986 and 1999, Penn photographed Miyake’s sculptural garments in his New York studio, never attending the designer’s runway shows. Instead, the collections were shipped directly to him, creating a unique exchange between Tokyo and New York that resulted in some of the most iconic fashion photographs of the era. The exhibition also includes twelve original posters designed by Ikko Tanaka, demonstrating how Penn’s imagery became integral to Miyake’s visual identity.
The exhibition includes portraits, still lifes and Penn’s celebrated beauty photography, alongside facsimiles of original Vogue magazines that place the photographs within their editorial context. Highlights include his landmark Lima and Cuzco series from 1948, intimate portraits of Jean Patchett, and the surreal beauty images of the 1990s that Vogue art director Alexander Liberman famously described as “stoppers” for their ability to make readers pause mid-page.
