Image Source: http://extremebeautyinvogue.wordpress.com/
Blumenfeld’s
1950’s Vogue photograph is the epitome of female beauty; it highlights the main
components for a beautiful face: the eyes and lips. This graphic photograph is
so striking, and rightly so made it the cover of the dawn of the new decade
(Jan 1950) showing how beauty is transforming. Andy Port [1] (NY Times Blog) writes: ‘Jean
Patchett’s face reduced to a beauty mark, mouth, eye, brow and nose. If ever
there were a visual haiku, this is it. Woman distilled to her essence; the sum
of her parts more alluring than the whole.’ I agree that this image is incredibly alluring, right
down to the beauty spot. The fact that he chose to keep the beauty spot shows
almost juxtaposes with the idea of keeping the little details yet he has rid
most of her face including the main canvas: her skin. Despite all that is
erased her face is not expressionless, in fact she evokes much more; her
seductive eyes and sensual lips are captivating enough that the reader see no
more. This image shows the power of beauty and expression in basically two features
on a face. One might say that Bluemfeld is empowering women and that they
simply don’t need more than basic features to express how they feel. However
one may read it as the photographer is eradicating her features like a blank
canvas and that ‘beauty’ can be painted on with make-up and that beauty does
not lie within her expression but in a mask. Another interpretation of this
image is that beauty is white due to the vastness of white representing white
skin and showcasing Caucasian features. At this time white people were seen as
the dominant race in America, could this image represent that beauty is
determined by levels of superiority in race?
References:
1. Port, Andy; New York Times
Blog; published Apr 16 2009; http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/extra-credit-erwin-blumenfelds-dada/ [Accessed at 01/05/12]
Useful Links:
Extreme Beauty in Vogue (D&G) http://extremebeautyinvogue.wordpress.com/
25 Fashion Photographs by Master of Photography Erwin Blumenfeld http://www.photographyoffice.com/2011/06/25-fashion-photographs-by-master-of-photography-erwin-blumenfeld/
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