Irving Penn: The Bath

This exhibition is dedicated to a rarely-seen series of daring photographs by Irving Penn capturing the groundbreaking work of the American choreographer Anna Halprin. Taken in 1967, the carefully composed images are the result of Penn’s collaboration with the Dancers’ Workshop of San Francisco, which he photographed performing Halprin’s 1966 improvisational choreography The Bath. As the nude dancers appear to bathe each other under the north light of Penn’s studio, their bodies conjure up comparisons to antique sculptures and Paul Cézanne’s paintings of bathers. The group of fourteen photographs, which were printed for the first time in 1995, highlights Halprin’s pioneering approach to movement and reveals a more experimental side to Penn’s practice.