Author
James Darton
Contributing Editor
A big part of the reason that Floom exists is as an attempt to tear flowers away from the trite sentimentality they’re often cloaked in. Prettified and Disney-fied, so many bouquets trade in the raw natural splendour of a stem in exchange for homogenous shades of pink tied to cloying ‘symbolism.’
In this respect, Irving Penn is a hero to us, standing tall in the already crowded field of artists who have taken inspiration from flowers over the years. Originally commissioned to shoot still life flowers for a 1967 issue of U.S Vogue by Alexander Liberman, new images in the series appeared in numerous editions over the years, culminating in the book, Flowers (1980). The images are a revelation, as resonant today as they must have been upon initial publication.
Stark compositions thrust the flowers forwards, flooding the lens with their ripened colours; their structures both delicate and sturdy; their very anatomy. In an interview for Floom earlier this year the custodian of World’s End Farm in New York, Sarah Ryhanen, mused that the reason we love flowers so much is that they remind us of ‘the beautiful, temporal nature of life.’ Viewing Penn’s images afresh, it is impossible not to be reminded of this very quality. See for yourselves in a selection of images below.
![1 Floom Magazine Irving Penn Three Poppies 1](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_three_poppies_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=39bd78991fee01d57f9de4bf986e4376 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_three_poppies_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=79879f5ab519067f9efe48efc05f8282 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_three_poppies_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=df9462da2f8be5ea58423f3f81724fc6 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_three_poppies_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=70567cd6fcf3c10e81e1024ed4335386 400w)
![1 Floom Magazine Irving Penn Flower 1](https://floom.imgix.net/general/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_flower_1.jpeg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=20cfc859e532d20eb0feaef0c78bb4a2 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/general/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_flower_1.jpeg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=9b0a155e127d4d5deedc6a82592cf816 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/general/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_flower_1.jpeg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=b8a0d48a0d0e6f1934551db586650d6a 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/general/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_flower_1.jpeg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=4a04483c4f21ae3017845e2208e0dfce 400w)
![1 Floom Magazine Irving Penn Flower 3](https://floom.imgix.net/general/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_flower_3.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=f95af31b7c5e7d6fb5c2f2cbaf93cad0 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/general/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_flower_3.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=0082cf7e84c362831e33244e2b3f71be 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/general/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_flower_3.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=0950751336462a9c3fc8c395fdea6396 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/general/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_flower_3.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=84dd9113a4a484abd2e24a04e2585bbf 400w)
![1 Floom Magazine Irving Penn Flower 2](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_flower_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=97f4b759275c7c33d8aa593fb27d08d9 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_flower_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=40ed452819adf22629d8a807fa2aebff 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_flower_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=a1e5cb1ebdf0dffe42678f3b2b56ee12 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_irving_penn_flower_2.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=074ac6d79dab08b3cb301a56e6571043 400w)