Overview of the 50's

Life Magazine, images through the 50's. It is interesting to see as an overview what happened in the 50's because our 'housewife' feels that this era is something to hold onto and to her is perfect, which is why this is part of the narrative we are building for her.

We are thinking about having family portraits of the US presidents from this time period with images of our model with them to emphasise her idea of a perfect life (being with a highly thought of man). Though looking at the presidents within this era we may decide to make this idea more contemporary by having the current president in a composite with our model. Hopefully viewers will be able to understand that this is set in the present but the 'housewife' feels that the 1950's were the perfect era to live in, which is why she styles her life in this way.

US Presidents in the 50's

Harry S Truman (1945-1953) 33rd US president

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) 34th US president

Good Kate vs Bad Kate task. casting continued.

1950's style pinup model

Looking at 'Bettina's modelling page it is clear to see that she has the style that we are looking for. I took this shot today for the production casting as I have been speaking with Bethan about modelling for us for almost a week now.
At the next group meeting I will take the contact sheets with me and discuss if we think Bethan will be suitable, if not I will continue casting and will also look for a hairstylist and makeup artist.

Casting lead, lighting assistant.

The Commission - Developing idea

After watching 'Wasteland' a documentary about the photographer Vik Muniz today I feel as if I have had some enlightenment or epiphany.

In the documentary we see Muniz go to a landfill site in Rio de Janeiro, it is the biggest in the world. He takes portraits of the pickers at the site, he then selected a few photos from this to create a bigger piece of art using recycled materials collected from the landfill. The people within the photographs helped him to create these works of art that he photographed and then sold at auction in order to help these people.

Vik Muniz within the landfill

 one of the pieces of art before it had been photographed. You are able to see the shear scale of it due to the people in the bottom left corner, this suggests an indication to the vastness of the landfill site that these pickers work on. 

So, from my initial research into the fashion photographers and designers who create their own clothes out of recyclable materials, I am now moving on still with the same idea, but I am going to create it in a similar way to how Muniz has created his 'Wasteland' images.

I will be looking into the people below to get an idea of how to create a new image from old images and materials. 

Julie Cockburn

John Stezaker

Melinda Gibson

The images above that I have looked at have given me a few ideas of how I would like to portray my work, here are a couple I have made and scanned in:

Andy Warhol

I felt that Warhol's work had a connection with what I am looking into (fast throwaway fashion) because in the images below Warhol repeats the image over and over, which is what shops like Primark, H&M, Topshop etc do with their clothes, mass produce the same design and sell them reasonably cheap. Which leads people in to thinking that instead of recycling their old clothes and making new ones they just throw them away and buy new ones.

From looking at Warhol, I then decided to put together my own images in this style:

Fashion of the 50's

The end of the 40's saw fashion heading for a revival of the 20's style of clothes, the 20's style was very masculine with a suppressed bust, no waist and broad shoulders. The silhouette was so simple that the figure of the woman was lost and the flattened chest was emphasised. Some of these silhouettes remained but due to the vast modernisation they were barely noticeable.
One of the persistent features from the 1920's fashion was the sleeveless look, sleeveless dresses were worn throughout the year because the woman found them easy to wear. They also wore sleeveless blouses and harness tops for the evenings.

 The Polka dot dress, possibly a modernised silhouette from the 1930's depression era. Below is a 30's polka dot dress.

 Velvet was often used, even in tailored suits, with a white and black colour scheme.

Marilyn Monroe

Grace Kelly

50's style patterns.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mysweetiepiepie_vintage/3297650947/lightbox/

1950's housewife

 The image above of Caroline Trentini lead me to look into more of Miles Aldridge's work, in the images I have selected he represents the 1950's housewife who seems to be having some sort of breakdown. This ties in to our theme of duality and the American dream gone wrong, they are also interesting to look at for styling and props even though our production is likely to take place in the dining room.

Time Machine task 1

For this task we have been asked to compare and contrast two paintings (The Sleeping Venus - Giorgione and Olympia - Manet)


The Sleeping Venus - Giorgione (1510)

In this image we see Venus, who appears to be in a deep sleep where we are unable to see her conscious expression laying on a white sheet and red cushion framed by an external landscape which is rather an innovation of this time. All of these things produce an air of mystery about the nude and because she is sleeping suggests that she is dreaming which allows us to think that she is in another world. The pose of Venus is important to look at as it echos the landscape behind implying that there is a connection between her and the nature around, there is also a eroticised feel due to her hand leading down into her crotch. This piece was a collaboration between Giorgione and an artist called Titian who was thought to paint most of the landscape, for European art this was very much a central theme. The juxtaposition between the Venus (the light areas) and the landscape (dark areas) cause the painting to look three dimensional.

It seems to me that this piece is more an ideological painting because Giorgione has painted an unselfconscious Goddess, sleeping within her own world, unawares of the viewer and unaware of any dangers that maybe approaching like the building storm in the distance. There is also an innocence about her because of the way that her hand covers her crotch.

Olympia - Manet (1863)

Here we see 'Olympia' or Victorine Meurent, who happened to be Manet's favourite model this painting was also inspired by Titian's 'Venus of Urbino' (1538) which refers to Giorgione's painting above. Within this painting the nude was thought to be a prostitute within her bed wearing a bootlace for a necklace, gold bracelet and orchid in her hair (suggesting a lifestyle of wealth and sensuality which is likely to have been more of a front to to show she was a better class). Unlike Giorgione's painting, Manet has painted this quite flat in the sense of dimensional space and the contrast between light and dark (chiaroscuro) is extremely harsh. There is also a lack of tones, Olympia is almost all one colour which is again different to Giorgione's painting as Venus was painted as an ideological vision of beauty. One of the biggest differences between the two images is the confrontational stare that occurs with Olympia, this and the firm covered crotch indicates a much more dominating character. When this painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1865 the viewers struggled to look at the image in the same way that 'The Sleeping Venus' would be viewed, there was a lack of ease through the painting with every detail being looked at trying to make sense rather than look upon it being in a dream state like Giorgione's image of Venus above. From looking at Titian's painting 'Venus of Urbino' we notice that the inviting gaze is replaced with uneven sized pupils and the loyal sleeping dog is a startled cat which is a sign of infidelity, the braided hair is tied and the softness that Titian creates, that we can also say about Giorgione's painting is changed to something much harder and cold.

Fashion:Constructed Image - Casting Lead

Some more mood boards of the look from the model we are going for:

So first things first, make a search on sites like model mayhem, purestorm and also have a look at the new faces on models1. If this is unsuccessful then I will make some casting calls.

So this is what we are looking for, Female model, aged between 18 and 30 (might be best to go for an older model), in the local area incase we need her for both days of the shoot, really want someone that has a pinup style as this fits best with the suburban 50's housewife, we also are looking for this model to be blonde with medium to long hair and they are also preferred to be white.

I suppose that as long as the model is blonde and suitable look for their age then the rest of the look can be made through the styling and hair and makeup.

Here are some possibilities that are already close to the look we want:

http://www.modelmayhem.com/1869674 Location - Basildon (Maybe too far?)

http://www.modelmayhem.com/1928869 Location - Sittingbourne

http://www.modelmayhem.com/1668351 Location - Southend (again possibly too far)

Profile picture got my attention but other photos in portfolio are very different.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bettina-Scarlett/118846518164009 Local, attends the Uni.

Alternative 50's styled pinup model, possibly the closest to the look that we are going for without having to do to much.

Purestorm is a pain as you have to pay to do an advanced search for specific models:

http://purestorm.com/profile.aspx?id=Rachael_C Location - Greenhithe

A nice styling in this image, even if we do not use this model it might be good to keep this look in mind. Similar to Bethan's look above but more of a mumsy feel.

http://purestorm.com/profile.aspx?id=BlondieH Location - Dover (too far possibly and the face is possibly too young looking)

http://www.models1.co.uk/details.aspx?nav=1&modelid=498583&sexid=2&subid=7771&mainsubid=7771&indx=&ltr=&num=7 Location - London (Possible cost per hour)

The Commission - The Portrait Issue

Finlay Mackay 'Road to 2012 - Changing Pace, David Weir'

 The Road to 2012 is a series by Finlay Mackay, showing different athletes and the training that they are going through in the run up to the 2012 olympic games. This particular image of David Weir shows him training on a country road, this gives us the setting which shows us that he is on a journey and has already come along way to be where he is now. So obviously getting to the olympic games is quite a feat and this metaphorically suggests this. This is also enhanced by the placement of the camera as it is close enough to see the athlete (who he is, what he does etc) but also at a distance to see how far he has come. The sitter, David Weir, does seem to be quite small within the frame as you are able to see lots of land and trees around him this suggests to me that he still has a fair distance or training to complete before he will be ready for the games.

Toby Glanville, 'Actual Life', 2002

 In this image we see a school teacher against a blackboard in her classroom, it is easy to understand who she is and what she does because she has been placed in this setting. The subject is lit with natural light as you are able to see the sun coming through the blinds spilling onto the blackboard, because it is clearly a nice day and there are no children in the photograph suggests that they may be outside playing. The teacher is in the middle of the frame which shows that she is of importance and the items around her just further emphasise the setting.

Ulrich Gebert, 'Freischneider', 2004

Like the first image this one has been set outside due to the persons profession which without looking at the series we would not be sure what this is. The 'headshot' includes the safety gear that this hedge cutter wears while out working which firstly gives us the indication of what he does. The man is set against a clear blue sky which has very little distractions, this keeps the main focus on the subject as this is the important part of the image. This is quite different to the other images because it is a tightly cropped image, you only have the things he is wearing to try and figure out what he does.

Will add more to this.