"From his very first photograph made on assignment for Vogue in 1943 to the fresh images that he continues to make for that magazine today at age eighty-seven, Irving Penn again and again has shown an uncanny ability to surprise the world with his art. Far from a typical career retrospective, A Notebook at Random is a revelation.
Included here are some of Penn's signature images - austere, elegantly composed portraits, still lifes, and fashion photographs - along with rough sketches and line drawings that provide a window into ideas and images in the making. A consummate technician and innovator, Penn invites us to consider process alongside end product, providing new insight into his radical compositions, experiments with light, and unique printing techniques."