Ethereal image of a mother nursing her newborn child.

Believed to be Penn's wife, Lisa Fonssagrives with their son Todd in New York in 1952. Penn regarded this as one of his favourite images and it was published in US Vogue in 1956. Alongside was this poem by Walter de la Mare:
"That mute small face, but twelve hours here,
Maps secrets stranger than the seas',
In hieroglyphics more austere,
And wiser far than Rameses"

Lisa Fonssagrives was a Swedish model, dancer, sculptor, and photographer, widely credited with having been the first supermodel.. She married Irving Penn in 1950.

This is a genuine vintage photogravure, printed in Switzerland in 1960. Archivally mounted on 100% acid-free board in a black 11" x 14" wooden frame.