Richard Avedon

Buongiorno to all! I am not going to excuse myself for not posting recently and can only assure you that I was not just sitting around twiddling my thumbs - there were genuine reasons why I lacked the time to post.

So... I am happy to say I have reached the hundred follower mark. Whoopee! Yes, that may not seem like a lot but it means a lot to me so thank you and keep following. I promise I will keep posting and this length of absence should not happen again.

I am currently on Holiday, in France, visiting my Grandmother and yesterday I had a marvellous time galloping around 'La Foret de Fontainebleau' with my cousins. Tomorrow, Paris!

Today, I am posting about Richard Avedon, a photographer who, and I really cannot say it better than this quote:

"His fashion and portrait photographs helped define America's image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century."

Richard Avedon

Born: May 15th 1923, New York
Died: October 1st 2004, Texas

• Avedon was born in New York City to a Jewish Russian family.
• After briefly attending Columbia University, he started as a photographer for the Merchant Marines in 1942, taking identification pictures of the crewmen with his Rolleiflex camera given to him by his father as a going-away present.
• In 1944, he began working as an advertising photographer for a department store, but was quickly discovered by Alexey Brodovitch, the art director for the fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar. Lillian Bassman also promoted Avedon's career at Harper's.
• In 1946, Avedon had set up his own studio and began providing images for magazines including Vogue and Life. He soon became the chief photographer for Harper's Bazaar.
• Avedon did not conform to the standard technique of taking fashion photographs, where models stood emotionless and seemingly indifferent to the camera. Instead, Avedon showed models full of emotion, smiling, laughing, and, many times, in action.
• In 1966, Avedon left Harper's Bazaar to work as a photographer for Vogue magazine. He proceeded to become the lead photographer of Vogue and photographed most of the covers from 1973 until Anna Wintour became editor in chief in late 1988.
• Notable among his fashion advertisement photograph series are the recurring assignments for Gianni Versace, starting from the spring/summer campaign 1980. He also photographed the Calvin Klein Jeans campaign featuring a fifteen year old Brooke Shields, as well as directing her in the television commercials. 

"When Dick walks into the room, a lot of people are intimidated. But when he works, he's so acutely creative, so sensitive. And he doesn't like it if anyone else is around or speaking. There is a mutual vulnerability, and a moment of fusion when he clicks the shutter. You either get it or you don't". Brooke Shields

• In addition to his continuing fashion work, Avedon began to branch out and photographed patients of mental hospitals, the Civil Rights Movement in 1963, protesters of the Vietnam War, and later the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• During this period, Avedon also created two famous sets of portraits of The Beatles. The first, taken in mid to late 1967, became one of the first major rock poster series, and consisted of five striking psychedelic portraits of the group — four heavily solarized individual color portraits and a black-and-white group portrait taken with a Rolleiflex camera. The next year he photographed the much more restrained portraits.
• Avedon was always interested in how portraiture captures the personality and soul of its subject. As his reputation as a photographer became widely known, he brought in many famous faces to his studio and photographed them with a large-format 8x10 view camera. His portraits are easily distinguished by their minimalist style, where the person is looking squarely in the camera, posed in front of a sheer white background. Avedon would at times evoke reactions from his portrait subjects by guiding them into uncomfortable areas of discussion or asking them psychologically probing questions. Through these means he would produce images revealing aspects of his subject's character and personality that were not typically captured by others.
• He is also distinguished by his large prints, sometimes measuring over three feet in height. His large-format portrait work of drifters, miners, cowboys and others from the western United States became a best-selling book and traveling exhibit entitled In the American West, and is regarded as an important hallmark in 20th century portrait photography, and by some as Avedon's magnum opus.
• When first published and exhibited, In the American West was criticized for showing what some considered to be a disparaging view of America. Avedon was also lauded for treating his subjects with the attention and dignity usually reserved for the politically powerful and celebrities.
• Avedon became the first staff photographer for The New Yorker in 1992. He has won many awards for his photography, including the International Center of Photography Master of Photography Award in 1993, the Prix Nadar in 1994 for his photobook Evidence, and the Royal Photographic Society 150th Anniversary Medal in 2003. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001.
• Avedon had numerous museum exhibitions around the world, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of Art in New York, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Richard & Audrey

Hollywood presented a fictional account of his early career in the 1957 musical Funny Face, starring Fred Astaire as the fashion photographer "Dick Avery." Avedon supplied some of the still photographs used in the production, including its most famous single image: an intentionally overexposed close-up of Audrey Hepburn's face in which only her famous features - her eyes, her eyebrows, and her mouth - are visible.

Hepburn was Avedon's muse in the 1950s and 1960s, and he went so far as to say "I am, and forever will be, devastated by the gift of Audrey Hepburn before my camera. I cannot lift her to greater heights. She is already there. I can only record. I cannot interpret her. There is no going further than who she is. She has achieved in herself her ultimate portrait."

^{Dovima with Elephants}

In August 1955, Richard Avedon held an ambitious fashion shoot that was to showcase French fashion designer Christian Dior.

Although most conventional fashion images after the Second World War were shot in the studio, Avedon often created his images outside, posing his models in streets, cafés and casinos.... and the location for this shoot was inside the famous Cirque d'hiver in Paris.

The model in the Cirque d'hiver shoot was Dovima. Her real name was Dorothy Virginia Margaret Juba.

Tall and slender, Dovima epitomised 1950s style and was said to be one of the highest-paid models of the period. 

The shoot took place on a hot summer's day. Avedon later recalled that when he entered the area where the elephants were kept, he saw that the animals were beautifully lit by natural light. 'I saw the elephants under an enormous skylight and in a second I knew… there was the potential here for a kind of dream image.'

In the most famous image from the shoot, Dovima is shown in an ankle-length black evening gown with a white sash. It was the first dress designed for Dior by Yves Saint-Laurent. Although the elephants each had one foot chained to the floor, they were still potentially dangerous and Dovima had to hold her nerve as they moved restlessly behind her. She is shown striking a graceful, narcissistic pose, her eyes almost closed, with one hand resting on an elephant's trunk. In the second picture, she was in a white dress with long black gloves.

The picture has become iconic for a number of reasons. First, its almost surreal juxtaposition of the model and elephants is visually arresting and unexpected, combining fantasy and reality. Second, it is beautifully lit and elegantly posed. Finally, the picture represents a contrast of opposites: youth and age, strength and frailty, grace and awkwardness, freedom and captivity. The picture's rich combination of qualities elevates it beyond the standard fashion image and into the realm of high art.

'Dovima with Elephants' is widely regarded as one of the most iconic fashion photograph of the 20th century. Avedon recognised its importance and displayed a large print of the image in the entrance to his studio for more than 20 years. He nevertheless remained unsatisfied with it. 'I look at that picture to this day and I don't know why I didn't have the sash blowing out to the left, to complete the line of the picture,' he said late in life. 'The picture will always be a failure to me because that sash isn't out there.'

 

Thank you for reading! Please follow and DO comment! Seriously, I don't bite... well, not all the time. 

Pulchritudinous

Greetings Folks! Sorry for another temporary absence, but I have been very busy and very tired and very everything else which might cause a temporary absence from blogging. Oh, and I have found a new *pretty* word: Pulchritudinous! It means beautiful and my guess would be that it derives from the Latin word, Pulchra, meaning beautiful (See, three years of Latin were not completely wasted on me)

Anyway, having spent an evening watching terribly addictive bad TV and eating chocolate muffins made by my sister, I have decided to do something productive. Since I have no terribly urgent homework assignments, I have decided to post a few photos I took last Sunday.

I had spent all morning rehearsing for two plays I am doing in my youth drama group 'Daisy Pulls it off' and 'The History Boys' before driving straight to my friend - Aggi's house to let her forcibly make me remove all my make-up and assault my face (Well re-do my make-up in a more technically demanding way, one I could never do myself) She did it twice after crimping my hair, the results of which you can also see here. The first time she made it with huge streaks of teal on my eyelids and, although I liked it and it took her at least an hour to do, she removed it all to do this. I also ended up looking slightly paler than usual by the end of it, though I can not say that I was not warned. Aggi did point out that she was going for an 'alien' look and started off the session by commenting that I was starting to look like a corpse. By the end, however, I think it did look really good and I liked how she used practically white foundation on my cheekbones and nose to 'illuminate' them.

I will also include in this post a few random 'tid-bits' of quotes because I really can not be asked to write a proper post. I am too exhausted and I need to finish this within twenty minutes... or else.

"We play at being Nomads

At the strings of a lute and hands of a clock

Turning them backwards with dirty-nailed fingers

We play at picking locks."

- Z.Barnes

This look was really put together to wear on Sunday because I had a rehearsal, but I do like it. I like the vibrant green scarf against the black jazz shoes, simple black long-sleeved top and black trousers. I also think that this hair works really well with it. I did not think I would like it (and I know my Mother did not) but I love my hair crimped like this. I really want to buy some of those crimping tong things. Yes, I know that it damages the hair and all that, but this is a level of volume I am not accustomed to... I would not use them all the time, indeed I wouldn't have the time, but hair grows back and once in every two weeks wouldn't hurt.

I have also been thinking over the last few days about the term 'Opheliac' - the only example of this is that it is the title of an album by one of my friend's favourite singers... but it started me thinking on this track. What exactly is an Opheliac?
I am also exploring a new theory of mine in conjunction with my latest planned play named 'The Helen of Troy Syndrome', which is not-so-coincidentally the same name as the one given to a group of my better clothing designs - more to come soon on this subject.

"I would rather regret the things I have done than the things I have not." - Lucille Ball

"Nothing is ever as good as the fantasy of it."

- Z.Barnes (though, for all I know, this is already somebody else's quote)

I love clothes - I always have, but because my circle of friends is generally built on intellectual similarity rather than a shared love of style, some of them have questioned it. Recently, when asked over a Facebook message 'Why? Clothes are to keep warm and so you do not get arrested' I started off with this:

"I just like clothes."

Then, when prompted further:

"Why? Well, I suppose because I consider myself an Aesthete and, to me, clothing should be a form of expression, of Art. After all, Oscar Wilde said 'One should either be a work of Art or wear a work of Art' and I am sticking by that. Clothing should be like Paintings, Music, Architecture and Theatre... a way of proving that humanity is so much more than just apes on their hind legs with sharper brains and more technological advancements. "

Before finishing on this note.

"Anyway, it's nice to put an effort into things. It may not be right, but you are judged by the way you look... and I want to be judged in a certain way."

I rest my case.

 

 

 Thank you for reading! Do Comment and Please Follow. It means a lot to me.

I should be back soon with a much more fashion-related post. I am determined to do at least another three

posts before the end of march.  

PS: What do you all think of my hair like this? Like or not? Please comment! I will not be offended if you tell me that this hairstyle is one which I should never have even considered.

Wishing for Spring

Howdy guys!  Here I am, a week after my last post... and just when tardiness and lack of commitment were sins I thought I had almost stopped committing.

Anyway, so I have had quite a tiring week. I am not even sure why, but probably due to the large amount of cake I have eaten. Let me explain this point, my Mother is not at home so my thirteen year old sister has joyfully taken on the task of playing 'Mummy' and, if this lasts into adulthood which I doubt, she is certainly going to be a yummy one, but possibly to some very large children. Yesterday she made us Victoria sponge and today she made us brownies. I have no idea what she has in store for tomorrow, but I have already had the whole sinking feeling of 'I am going to be consuming so many calories' Blast!

(By the way, skip the next paragraph if you do not wish to hear a mini rant about a completely unrelated subject. In fact, you can do so anyway - it is not very interesting and some people may get offended)

Another issue with me this week? The realisation that many feminists have too much time on their hands to get angry at everything. Cartoons, Toy Story 3 (An old article I read. Although how they think a Barbie who quotes John Locke is sexist, especially because the issue was not the fact that she was a Barbie, I honestly do not know) and the use of the word 'Miss' or 'Actress', which just irritates me because they would have us replace 'Miss' by 'Ms' which is a terribly ugly and unpleasant sounding word. It is as if somebody could simply not be bothered to say 'Mrs' or 'Miss'. I managed to severely irritate one of my female teachers, asking if she was married so I would know whether to call her Miss or Mrs. I refuse to hear the disgusting word 'Ms' comign from my own mouth. If they have to go for a word somewhere in the middle, can they not try something slightly more pleasing sounding? Oh, and I know the old-fashioned connotations of the word 'Actress' being associated with prostitutes, but this being the 21st century, does anyone ever actually hear the word Actress and think 'prostitute' anymore? Serious actresses who will insist on being called 'Actors' are not being feminist in my opinion. Quite the opposite. This suggests that somehow a feminine form of a word is lesser to a masculine form, and that we should therefore all adopt the masculine form.
Let's be really feminist - why don't we call all 'actors' no matter their gender by the word 'actresses'? Why not? (Well, that last bit was silly but even so. Why can they not do something valuable with their time? Instead of getting angry with a world which, more or less, accepts them and treats them as equal, why can they not do more for women in countries where their human right are completely ignored, based almost entirely on their gender? Or where marital rape is still legal?)
Any arguments that anyone has regarding this issue, in particular the use of the word 'Miss' will be re-buffed without pity. You have been warned and this is only the tip of the argument.

I think I should swiftly proceed  onto a subject that makes me far less irritable and argumentative. I am introducing to you my outfit for the day, worn because I badly needed some brighter colours, then black to reflect my mood.

 

 

Now, although I wished to wear bright, warm colours, there was no real inspiration to this but, thanks to a sibling, I was forced to come up with one.

The following is a pretty accurate script of the exchange between the two of us:

Sibling: Zoé! Can you help me with... um... what are you dressed up as?

Myself: I am not dressed up.

Sibling: Well, what's your inspiration?

Myself: ... a painting by Mark Rothko (Thinking: It was on the spot, but thank God I didn't say the German Flag - no offence to any Germans)

Sibling:  Who's he? (Before waiting for an answer) You look sort of Spanish.

Myself: (Thinking: Thank God he/she didn't say German Flag - no offence to any Germans) I can live with that. There is something quite exotic about looking hispanic. Not that I do, of course. Firstly, I am too pale.

Sibling: You could dance the flamenco.

Myself: ...........................?

Sibling: Or West Side Story

Myself: I'll keep that in mind.

"Dying for a taste of Spring, and so glad that the beginnings of it are emerging. I am so sick of being permanently cold in a house with no central heating!"

(No Joke. My Father does not believe in the concept of central heating before December and after January, and even then it's touch and go. So I hope you understand because you can fill a hot water bottle up only so many times. Oh, and he - referring to my Father - has stolen my electric heater because I kept leaving it on when I was not in the room *Sigh*)

  

Is Rothko Art? I know some people can be cynical about this sort of thing, especially in light of the amount of money they make and the fact that Rothko paintings have been known to be hung the wrong way around by curators in Art exhibitions, but I think it most certainly is. Art can be many things. Rothko works because, at the time, it was new. That is what art is in many cases. 'The defeat of habit by originality' or finding a new way of looking at things and doing something that has not been done before.

Besides, I like Rothko pieces. They have the ability of awaking emotions, and they are not unpleasant to look at.

Guess what I found today? Daffodils! A sure sign that the cold can not last forever. On the other hand, they have probably been growing for a while and I have developed a tendency not to go outside very much when at home. The Garden is lovely at this time of year, but I am quite content with looking at it from the relative warmth - in comparison - of the freezing cold house in which I live. On that note, I have just notice that I can not feel my nose or my toes anymore. Never a good sign, so I might have to take a moment to get the blood circulating again and perhaps fill a fourth hot water bottle and fetch a second blanket to go under my duvet.

The sun at noon to higher air,
Unharnessing the silver Pair
That late before his chariot swam,
Rides on the gold wool of the Ram.

So braver notes the storm-cock sings
To start the rusted wheel of things,
And brutes in field and brutes in pen
Leap that the world goes round again.

The boys are up the woods with day
To fetch the daffodils away,
And home at noonday from the hills
They bring no dearth of daffodils.

Afield for palms the girls repair,
And sure enough the palms are there,
And each will find by hedge or pond
Her waving silver-tufted wand.

In farm and field through all the shire
The eye beholds the heart’s desire;
Ah, let not only mine be vain,
For lovers should be loved again.

-  A. E. Housman

Wearing:

Yves Saint Laurent Red Lip Gloss

Clarins Mascara

Black Chanel Eyeliner

A yellow skirt (don't ask me where it is from)

Black Lace Blouse that used to belong to my Grandmother

Red Pashmina

Red Radley Handbag

Opaque Black Tights (available in any good supermarket ;)

Red Scarf in hair - it was originally part of the hanging sleeves on my evil queen costume, but my sister cut it off. I was not happy with her.

Red Shoes (from Clarks I believe but sshhh... don't tell)

Orange Ribbon (from any good craft shop, so I can't remember which one)

Oh, and my Ralph Lauren Glasses, but I where those all the time or I would not be able to see. I am honestly as blind as a bat, or mole if you prefer.

^^^ The view from my window as the sun sets.

 Oh dear. I have just realised that my parting makes me look as though I had a slightly bald patch. Sugar!

Thank you for taking time to read my blog. Please Comment (but not to say that I look like a German Flag. As you can probably guess, I am a little paranoid about that) and do Follow!