The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 7, 2026

Four rows of three black-and-white photographs depict a man with light skin tone, wrinkled face, and slicked hair from the chest up. In each frame, he rests his chin or cheek against a hand, mouth closed. His gaze shifts between looking forward and toward his right. High-contrast lighting creates bright highlights on his face against deep shadows. Text identifying the film brand is visible along the left side of each frame.

Jasper Johns, New York

1983, printed June 2000

Irving Penn

(American, 1917–2009)
America
Gelatin silver print, toned in selenium
Paper: 60.5 x 50.8 cm (23 13/16 x 20 in.)
Gift from the Collection of Mark Schwartz + Bettina Katz 2020.17
© The Irving Penn Foundation
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The contact sheet is a twentieth-century phenomenon.

Description

The contact sheet—a piece of photographic paper which contains positive prints of some or all of the negatives on a roll of film—was necessitated by the advent of roll film, which produced small negatives, and rendered obsolete with the advent of digital photography. Having access to a photographer’s contact reveals the artist's thoughts and working processes.
  • Mark Schwartz + Bettina Katz, Cleveland, OH
    March 2, 2020
    the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Collection. "Framing the Frames. One contact sheet represents the incredible richness of the group of works from Mark Schwartz's collection recently donated by Tina Katz.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 60, no. 3 (Summer 2020): 10. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 10.
  • PROOF: Photography in the Era of the Contact Sheet. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-November 29, 2020).
  • {{cite web|title=Jasper Johns, New York|url=false|author=Irving Penn|year=1983, printed June 2000|access-date=07 October 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2020.17