*Clockwise from top left:* Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn on the cover of *Vogue,* September 1, 1940, photographed by Horst P. Horst; *Vogue,* June 1, 1940, by Horst; *Harper’s Bazaar,* March 1945, by Louise Dahl-Wolfe; *Vogue,* August 1, 1951, by Irving Penn.

Fonssagrives-Penn, photographed by Irving Penn, 1949.

*Untitled,* by Fernand Fonssagrives, circa 1947.

*White Ermine Evening Cape by Weill,* by Erwin Blumenfeld, 1939.

*Dress by Antonio del Castillo for Lanvin,* by Penn, 1949.

*Untitled,* by Fonssagrives, circa 1937.

*Schiaparelli “Volutes” Jacket in Carbon-Blue Jersey Wool and White Leather,* attributed to George Platt Lynes, 1937.

Portrait of a Lady

A new book collects portraits from the personal collection of Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, the supermodel and wife of Irving Penn, with works by Richard Avedon, Man Ray, and George Hoyningen-Huene

In 1947, early in his long career at Vogue, Irving Penn did the unthinkable: he made a fashion photograph that was as much about the women in it as it was about the clothes. At that time, models were little more than glorified mannequins, rarely named or acknowledged. Penn titled his picture The Twelve Most Photographed Models. The image landed on Vogue’s cover.

Among the 12 beauties was the 36-year-old Lisa Fonssagrives. She’s the graceful blonde seated in the back and showing us her profile. Two years later, she became the first model on the cover of Time. The caption read, “Do illusions also sell refrigerators?” They do. By then, Fonssagrives had perfected the art of suggestion—arching her back just so, casting doe eyes at the lens.