Vitrier (Glazier), Paris

A glazier, a tradesperson responsible for installing windows, shows off his wooden backpack loaded with panes of uncut glass. Irving Penn took this photograph in 1950 while on assignment in Paris for Vogue magazine. Using the same studio he was given to make fashion photographs, he began a project based on the centuries-old tradition of representing Paris workers who practiced what were known in French as the petits métiers, or “small trades.” Two assistants scoured the streets for suitable subjects, coaxing cobblers, knife sharpeners, pastry chefs, and many others into Penn’s studio. Penn continued Small Trades in London and New York; it remains one of his most celebrated series.