Hamiltons has represented Irving Penn for over a quarter-century; in recognition of this, Hamiltons presented a single artist exhibition of Penn's masterful works at TEFAF 2013.
Alongside a salon of selected works, comprising of flowers, foods, still life and portraits, the exhibition included 16 works from Cranium Architecture, which was the largest exhibition of these images in more than 20 years.
Penn's fascination with the human form - and potentially the cranium - is clear from the early days of his photographic practice. Facial portraits, often from unusual or close-up perspectives, are a deeply rooted constant over the decades. This fascination may have been one factor which led him to create this series of animal skulls, from the collection of the Narodni Museum, Prague, photographed there in 1986.
A selection of Penn's platinum print Cigarettes were also presented, following Hamiltons 2012 exhibition, where for the first time ever, the entire series of 26 images were shown.
Penn's Cigarettes quickly became part of the lore of 20th century art when a selection from the series was first presented by John Szarkowski at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1975, just weeks after he saw some of the prints in Penn's studio. On the spot, Szarkowski offered Penn an exclusive exhibition.