distinguished

Doesn't Cecil Beaton look like such a distinguished gentleman here?

Beaton by Irving Penn, 1951

turn-of-the-century color

I've recently discovered the work of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, a Russian chemist and photographer who developed a technique - in the early 20th century, no less - to produce color photographs.  He used a camera that took a series of three monochrome images, using red, green and blue filters; later, these images could be recombined and projected with filtered lanterns to show near-true color images.

Thanks to the Library of Congress (beginning in 2000), and photographer Walter Frankhauser and computer scientist Blaise Aguera y Arcas, we can now see composites of the original surviving negatives provided by Prokudin-Gorskii's heirs.  It's simply astounding...

Bashkir switchman near Ust-Katav, 1910

Mid-18 century Trinity Monastery in Tyumen, ca. 1912

Young Russian peasant woman in a rural area along the Sheksna River near the small town of Kirillov

(source - Wikimedia Commons)

photographer crush of the month

Charles James gowns by Cecil Beaton, Vogue June 1948

I checked out the book - Beaton in Vogue (Josephine Ross) - from the library, and am having quite a good time reading it :)

It almost makes up for my frustration that the library's copy of Strapless is currently lost.

up

painting day!  4 hours of bliss with a gessoed board (ok, gesso - my new obsession) and acrylics.

it was a tim-walker-for-dior sort of day.

the girl and the background don't look the greatest at the moment; maybe if i ever feel like it, i'll fix it.

pictures to come eventually :)

babies

I'm in the middle of finals right now...or rather, I've taken two exams (the worst one is over), and I have one more - on Friday morning.

Consequently, I'm back in a state of complete uninspired-ness.  I wouldn't say artistic funk, since my fingers are itching to get working on some sewing projects once I get home, but I'm doing my best to stay focused on studies right now.

Last final is in psychology, and right now I'm reviewing child development - one of those, AWWW BABIES! moments.

One of my favorite (artistically rendered?) mother-child relationships comes in the form of Quynh and Sola.  I "discovered" them a year ago, and eagerly await updates in the form of new photographs from the blog Dress Your Days With Dreams.  It's pure love.

ballet costume part 2

Let's take a look back...

...to Tamara Karsavina in the role of Firebird (1910).

how to spend it; bonnie wright and the v&a

Just came across an interesting photoshoot via this lovely pre-raphaelite website, the beautiful necessity.  Apparently the V&A will be having an exhibit on the Aesthetic Movement - and this is sort of a get-you-interested kind of thing.  Feature website how to spend it.

Now a few things about this kind of bothered me - I didn't really like Bonnie Wright's makeup that much (the lipstick I understand...but I think they got a little too excited with the eyeshadow!), and besides, I don't think she quite has a Pre-Raphaelite chin.

Nevertheless, I still really liked the images as a whole - especially these two.

the said Pre-Raphaelite chin - a.k.a the distinct profile of Jane Burden Morris, the muse of Dante Gabriel Rossetti...and William Morris....

(by Rossetti)

hendrik kerstens

came across this cool photographer - he has a series of portraits of his daughter, at different ages.  i don't think she has a particularly beautiful face, but it's striking, for sure.  and kerstens has certainly succeeded in making her look as if she was painted by a dutch master.

http://www.witzenhausengallery.nl/artistbio.php?idxArtist=12

self portrait with paint

"Manchester-based artist James Birkbeck applied makeup to himself to look like one of Vincent Van Gogh's self-portraits and photographed the result."

http://opheliasg.tumblr.com/post/2321526660/van-gogh-make-up-ok-now-this-is-cool

vanity fair sheer gown

Mark Shaw, 1953

http://www.svenskamobler.com/itemdetails.php?id=99045

john singer sargent, modernized.

Every once in a while I see Nicole Kidman's Madame X-style photo (from Vogue June 1999) - but I didn't realize there was a whole Sargent-themed photoshoot!

My favorites -

 after Madame X by John Singer Sargent, 1884

Mrs. Carl Meyer, 1896

Repose, 1911

eleanor antin

I was lucky enough to see an exhibition of some of Eleanor Antin's photography work in San Diego about four years back...and I still remember it!  It's too bad I can't find any more high-res pictures, because it's hard to appreciate when you can't see the details :(

The Gamblers, from "Roman Allegories"(2004)

Proserpine Welcomes Helen to Hades, from "Helen's Odyssey" (2007)

Casting Call, from "Helen's Odyssey"

Judgment of Paris (after Rubens) - Dark Helen, from "Helen's Odyssey"

Judgment of Paris (after Rubens) - Light Helen, from "Helen's Odyssey"

The Tree, from "The Last Days of Pompeii" (2001)

The Last Day, from "The Last Days of Pompeii"

william henry fox talbot

inventor of the calotype (patented 1841) - this involved a new concept of negative, from which multiple positive images could be made (unlike the daguerreotype, which was a one-off deal).

Fox Talbot was born/lived/died at Lacock Abbey (now a National Trust property).  A lovely place (including Lacock Village) - I hope I can go back and spend more time there soon!

latticed window at Lacock Abbey, 1835

1844

Lacock Abbey - the cloisters - now (er, a year and a half ago...).  The parts that were in Harry Potter.

Speaking of Harry Potter...

fashion @ the mfa

I went to this exhibit earlier this week - hadn't been too familiar with Richard Avedon's work before, but now...wow!

some of my favorites - from the series In Memory of the Late Mr. and Mrs. Comfort

and I especially love his 1950s work (maybe it's just because I love the glamorous New Look)...

Dovima with Elephants

eugenio recuenco

alice in wonderland: if only, part 2

from Vogue US, December 2003
photography, Annie Leibovitz

fashion+photo

LOOKBOOK.nu: "THE FUCKING ATTIC." by Holly De Brún

not saying that i'm supporting this random use of expletives, but omg this photo is  super amazing, like a painting.

as the romans did.

reading livy for ancient roman history class is definitely bringing to my mind images of paintings that i learned about in "culture and values" class last year.  i'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, particularly when the images recalled are as static as jacques-louis david could have possibly painted.

the intervention of the sabine women

the oath of the horatii

not saying that i'm a big david fan, but i do much prefer his death of marat painting.

maybe that's just because it inspired eugenio recuenco (yes, i mention him yet again) to photograph his own version.