“an exceptional vision of forms, tones and patterns, entwining the beauty of nature with photographic genius”

The Flowers series initiated from an assignment by Vogue USA for their 1967 Christmas edition, and 1967 became the first of seven summers that Penn would photograph flowers, each year devoting himself to a single particular flower: 1967, Tulips; 1968, Poppies; 1969, Peonies, 1970, Orchids; 1971, Roses; 1972, Lilies; 1973, Begonias.

Penn commented, “I... react with simple pleasure just to form and colour, without being diverted by considerations of rarity or tied to the convention that a flower must be photographed at its moment of unblemished, nubile perfection.”

Published in collaboration with the Irving Penn Foundation - with an essay by David Campany - to accompany the exhibition Irving Penn: Flowers at Hamiltons Gallery in 2016.