Photographer and filmmaker Matthew Donaldson selects a series of Irving Penn’s most dynamic shots. Donaldson is known for a bold approach to image making, as was Penn, whose 60-year editorial and commercial career saw his work regularly grace the pages of Vogue, Look and The New Yorker before he died in 2009. Below, Donaldson recalls the time that he unexpectedly met his hero in 1985.

I was a young man in Paris working for a photographer. My boss called one lunchtime and told me to meet him at the Hôtel de Crillon on our way to a location. I pulled on a jacket, jumped onto my motorcycle and headed for the Place de la Concorde. As I walked into the marble entrance I spotted my boss walking into the salon. We headed towards a table at the back of the room where a small, well-dressed man sat with a china teapot, a cup and saucer. He rose and greeted my photographer, turned to me and introduced himself as Irving Penn.

Thanks for telling me boss.

Thirty minutes later I was more in love with a man than I thought possible. His charm, poise and honesty surpassed my dreams of meeting him. He said little but told me everything. He was a humble man who existed in a world where humility was an unusual trait.  

Penn was that rare bird, a photographer who truly inhabited both the art and commerce of photography with equal measure. From his extraordinary exhibition Street Materials at MoMA in 1977, Penn was officially an artist; his pictures being shown within the bracket of 20th century art. This was a landmark for an ostensibly commercial photographer.  He was the dude—long live the dude.

Irving Penn On Assignment runs through October 26 across both Pace Gallery and Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York City.