IRVING PENN Street Material, 1977

This original poster was created for the groundbreaking 1977 exhibition Irving Penn: Street Materials, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Known primarily for his masterful fashion photography and portraits, Irving Penn here turned his lens to the overlooked and ephemeral—capturing the poetic beauty of urban detritus.

The Street Materials series marked a departure from Penn’s studio-based compositions, focusing instead on discarded objects—crushed paper cups, cigarette butts, and bits of paper—transformed into elegant, abstracted images through his meticulous process and unerring eye for form and texture.

Printed in 1977, this poster stands as a rare artifact from a pivotal exhibition that expanded the boundaries of photographic subject matter and helped cement Penn’s reputation as one of the most innovative and influential photographers of the 20th century.