IRVING PENN (1917-2009) Group portrait of the Dhaka Nawab Family with Vogue editor Allene Talmay Plaut, Dhaka, Bangladesh (formerly Eastern Pakistan). September 1947. Silver print, the image measuring 7⅞ inches (20 cm.) square, the mount 15⅛x11⅛ inches (38.4x28.2 cm.), with Penn's credit stamp on verso.
Accompanied by 4 pages of typed notes about the 1947 trip Irving Penn undertook with Allene Talmay Plaut for Vogue US, most presumably by Penn, if not by Talmay Plaut, and 2 duplicated green pages about their trip to Dagga which frame the context in which this photograph was taken and offer additional information about the protagonists, including Khawaja Nazimuddin, the Nawab Begum, and the Nawab of Dacca.
WITH---3 photographs of the Pan American World Airways photo agency. One (and its two duplicates) representing Allene Talmey Plaut, the former editor at Vogue with Irving Penn boarding the plane at LaGuardia Field, en route to London, the first stop on their round-the-world trip. Silver press prints, the images measuring 9½x7½ inches (24.1x19.1 cm.), the sheets slightly larger, each with a Pan American credit stamp and an affixed paper clip. 1947.
"Very important. If this photograph comes out well, it ought to be the main one to use of this place. The photograph was taken in the palace of the Nawab of Dacca. The room is the grand ballroom. In the photograph are the Nawab himself standing up, a large, fat man with a great stomach in a white costume. He is called the Nawab of Dacca. Seated in front of him is his wife, the Nawab Begum (she is wearing a white silk sari with a blue design. She embroidered the design herself). Next to her in a white linen suit with a white standing collar is Nazamuddin, the prime Minister of Eastern Pakistan with his capital in Dacca. He is easily the second most important man in all Pakistan. He is short, round, gay, and a Cambridge honor man." (Excerpt)
