A contributor to Vogue for nearly seven decades, Irving Penn’s distinctive approach to fashion photography lifted him to the top of the field. Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1917, Penn graduated from the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art in 1938. After working as a freelance designer for Harper’s Bazaar and later as an art director at Saks Fifth Avenue, he landed a photography gig at Vogue. From there, it was off to the races. Penn’s first Vogue cover came in 1943, and in the years that followed he created countless portraits, still lifes, and photo essays for the magazine. He was an early adopter of backgrounds in either black or white, and he distanced himself from the busy lighting used by many of his contemporaries. In an exhibition at Pace Gallery, curated by the artist Hank Willis Thomas, we find in Penn’s work the emphasis on form, structure, and organization that have become his legacy. —Jack Sullivan