Irving Penn 1917-2009

Irving Penn taken by another great American portraitist, Bert Stern, in the 1960s Photograph: Bert Stern/Associated Press

Penn's great skill was his ability to marshall the basic ingredients of studio photography – natural light and the barest of settings – and produce images of breathtaking subtlety. He is shown here photographing a New Guinea mud man and a child Photograph: Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn/AP

Penn's cool, clear aesthetic and eye for detail made him well-suited for fashion photography. This is the October 1943 edition of Vogue, his first cover shoot for the magazine Photograph: Irving Penn/Conde Nast Archive/AP

Another Vogue cover, this time from April 1950, featuring Jean Patchett Photograph: Irving Penn/Conde Nast Archive/AP

The Woman with Roses on Her Arm (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn) 1950, printed in 1979 Photograph: Irving Penn/Christie's/AP

Although Penn earned his living from commercial photography - until relatively recently, most photographers had little choice - he continually experimented with subjects. He memorably dedicated an entire series, Small Trades, to the menial workers most cities prefer to forget: garbage men, window-cleaners, cooks. And he also explored anthropological subjects, as in this 1948 image of two impoverished Peruvian children Photograph: Irving Penn/AP

He also became one of the first photographers to make the leap into so-called 'art' photography, his prints snapped up by collectors and often appearing in major collections, especially in the US. This portrait of Picasso was part of a collection belonging to Germany's Gert Elfering, sold at Christie's in 2005 Photograph: Bebeto Matthews/AP

A 1971 image by Irving Penn of two Moroccan women, Guedras in the Wind, a platinum-palladium print. Penn played obsessively with print-making, sometimes returning to negatives taken half a century beforehand and trying different chemicals, papers or development processes Photograph: Irving Penn/Associated Press

A late photograph by Irving Penn of model Kate Moss, again on sale at Christie's in London. 'Photography is a mass medium available to anyone. A few geniuses, like Irving Penn, redeem it,' curator Colin Westerbeck said Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA