Rochas Mermaid Dress (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), Paris 1950

This is a photograph by Irving Penn, captured in Paris, featuring Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn in a Rochas mermaid dress. I think of the darkroom as a painter’s studio and photography as painting with light. Here, Penn works within a grayscale, finding endless variety of tones and textures. The way the dress flares out at the bottom reminds me of the brushstrokes in a gestural painting, each fold and ripple captured in varying shades of gray, and holding the shape of the models movement. I’m really drawn to how Penn directs our gaze, starting with the softness of the dress’s feathered neckline, then moving down to the controlled elegance of the silhouette. The backdrop is clearly visible as a material thing, it grounds the image, it has smudges and shadows. This reminds me that the image is constructed, it’s a photograph that shows us something about the process of image making itself. This photograph reminds me of the fashion photography of Guy Bourdin, in both their works, you see not just a capture of beauty but a reflection on the nature of image making itself.