I wanted to focus on society beauty standards, so I did my research and came across Jessica Ledwich series called “Monstrous Feminine”. This image captures my attention right away as in how simple beauty standards can harm women. Heels are something that women wear to make them look taller and slim and yet it is very sore to wear it all day. The symbolism of the red liquid at the bottom of the shoes appear to represent blood from wearing the heels. There are also red throughout the whole photograph that seems to represent the same thing. The pale clear skins are also representing the beauty standards to not have any flaws as they are unattractive to the standards.

“Personally, I believe that make up and heels make women feel confident because they are conforming to a social norm that is deemed acceptable”

Jessica explores the complex of the human behaviour to create her images. She was influences by Meret Oppenheim and Hans Bellmer in the early stages. She was also inspired by Guy Bourdin in her dark humour. The series “Monstrous Feminine” was inspired by Barbara Creed’s “Monstrous Feminine” she found the book very interesting in how they portray women in horror films. This made Jessica started to think what other way women are being portray.

Links:

https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/interview/jessica-ledwich-gore-feminine-beauty

http://www.jessicaledwich.com/monstrous-feminine.html

While looking at Jessica Ledwich work I came across Guy Bourdin as he was one of her influence and I become interested in his work. I look through his work and this one was fascinating to me. In this photograph we can see two women walking past the window and inside the window are mannequins who look similar to the two women walking past. This gives the audience an insight in the abnormal beauty standards people have for each other. The frame of the window made the women look like they are on TV which gives an indication how people are constantly watching them. They have a reputation too keep up to maintain themselves to be pretty for others. Personally, the photographs capture my attention because of the two beautiful models walking past the window. It was taking at a perfect time and frame properly.

Bourdin is known for his unique fashion photography. “While conventional fashion images make beauty and clothing their central elements, Bourdin’s photographs offer a radical alternative.” Bourdin was a self-taught photographer who worked for magazines places like Vogue, Chanel, Ungaro and Charles Jourdan.

Link:

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/guy-bourdin-13592

https://www.louise-alexander.com/artist/guy-bourdin/

https://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/photography/picture-galleries/2010/august/16/fashion-photography-guy-bourdin/

One of the people Guy Bourdin worked with was Man Ray. I heard of him previously through my class and was fascinated by his work. Larmes was one of the photographs that capture my attention as it was able to capture the insignificant details within the photograph. The close up allow the audience to see a certain sadness within the subject eyes although the subject was not a real person but a mannequin doll with glass tears attached to its eyes. I thought this was interesting for as the subject look so realistic and I would’ve never guess that it was a mannequin. I believe the black and white help to disguise the fact that the model was a not a real person.

This image was created in Paris name “Larmes” also goes by the name “Les Larmes”. It was taken between the date 1930 – 1932 print in gelatine sliver print. The photograph was supposed to appear like a still from a movie. The subject is meant to have emotive expression for the audience.

Man Ray was known for many different art form this includes photography, sculptor, painter and film. He started off as an abstract painter, but he wanted to do photography and other art form of art in his work. He mainly focuses on surrealism within his work is what he found interesting and what he wanted to do.

http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/37756/man-ray-larmes-tears-american-1930-1932/

https://www.theartstory.org/artist-ray-man.htm

Lee Miller and Man Ray. This is a portrait of Lee Miller neck that they work together in Paris to capture it. This was taken in 1930.

Lee Miller worked with Man Ray in many various occasions. I found her and her work fascinating, so I decided to choose one of her work for my blog. I found this work beautiful and different from what I have seen. I like the details that Lee Miller was able to capture in this photograph. The body contains different line and the background stop the audience from being distracted by anything else.  The body of the subject created an hourglass shape which made it appealing to look at for the audience. This photograph was name “Nude bent forward” taken in Paris during 1930.

Lee Miller was a strong independent photographer who refuses to be define by her beauty, gender, and age. Her dad introduced her to photography at an early age and taught her all the basic of photography. She started out as model for Vogue for fashion photographers like Arnold Genthe, Nikolas Muray and Edward Steichen. It was Edward Steichen that encourage Miller to become a photographer. Miller left New York in 1929 to find Man Ray and convinced him to accept her as his student. She became Man Ray model and collaborator during their times together.

Later in Lee Miller career she returns to New York and continue photography and modelling for Vogue. She was heavily influence by surrealist in her work. She also did some advertising work during this time of her life.

https://artblart.com/tag/lee-miller-surrealist-photography/

https://www.theartstory.org/artist-miller-lee-life-and-legacy.htm

After looking through all the photographers and their photographs I realised that they all have one thing in common that is surliest theme for their work. I decided to find other people that relates to this theme I came across Dora Maar who was known to be Picasso muse. She was a sing star in the surrealist field however, Picasso’s convinced her to give up photography for painting as he believes photography is inferior to painting.

Pere Ubu was one of her iconic work before she left photography. This photograph was taken in Paris in 1936. The print was a gelatine silver print. I found the photograph strange and alien like, but it is very different from other photographs I have seen. Dora Maar was able to capture the photograph to make it seems to have some human traits.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-surrealist-photographer-picassos-muse

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/286239

I came across Hans Bellmer before with my pervious photographer Jessica Ledwich as he was one of her influences. Bellmer was a German photographer who was known for his life size pubescent female dolls. He also specialised in surrealism as well as the other photographs on this list. Bellmer work was meant to reflected on what he felt was disturbing however, some found his work and expression of the limits for human sexuality while other believes his objectify the female body to capture male sexual graze.

I found this work disturbing and distorted. It appears to be a naked woman hanging herself on the tree in my opinion. The used of low angle made the subject look more distorted and uncomfortable to me. The tree behind the women act as a leading like for the audience to focus on the subject. The title of this photograph was “The Doll” however the original title was “La Poupee”. The medium of this photograph is black and white and ink on paper.

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/hans-bellmer-736

https://www.theartstory.org/artist-bellmer-hans.htm

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bellmer-the-doll-t02305

 

I wanted to look at more recent surrealist photographer as I have been looking at older photographers. I wanted to see what more recent photographer’s surrealism photography is like, so I did my research and found Katerina Plotnikove. Plotnikova like to created fairy tales photographs which she mainly used powerful animals and delicate models as her subject.

While doing my research I found this photograph very beautiful. The contrast between the animal and the model combined well together which is something that I didn’t expected to be. This only work in my opinion because of the beautiful shot that was taken. This includes the flower on her dark brown hair and the frost theme it made the model seems like a goddess to me. The snake blends well with her skin tone and the theme. The medium shot helps the audience to see the model piercing blue eyes and still allow us to see her surroundings.

http://beautifulsavage.com/design/katerina-plotnikova-creates-photographs-real-animals/

Kirsty Mitchell is another photographer that I found while look for recent surrealist photographer. I found her work like Katerina Plotnikova as they both have the same fantasy forest theme. Kristy Mitchell was originally a fashion designer for Karen Millen. At the age of 16 she studies photography but went on to study “Costume for Performance” at the age of 19. It was when she was 32 that she reconnected with her passion for photography.

This photograph was in the series “Wonderland”. It was created as a memory for her mother who had passed away. She wanted to create something that she will be able to remember her mum by, so she created “Wonderland”. Her mum always enjoyed fairy tale books so her theme for this series was based on a fantasy, fairy tale world.

I found this photograph stunning and it stands out a lot to me. The trails behind the subject work as a leading line towards the subject for the audience. The contrast between the colours help emphasis the present of the subject too. The subject stood in the centre which made her stood out compared to everything else. With the long shot she was able to capture the subject surrounding and created this fantasy world for the audience.

 

https://www.kirstymitchellphotography.com/portfolio/gammelyns-daughter/

“Master Magician”

Forest theme world created by Ronen Goldman.

“…What interests me stays the same – convey stories, breathe life into concepts and externalize emotions through conceptual and sometimes surreal images.” – Ronen Goldman

http://www.ronengoldman.com/ronengoldmansurreal/sja5k8sschqdsze4bf7waixbc6mwib