The Bones of Beauty
Irving Penn’s 1947 photograph “Twelve of the Most Photographed Models of the Period”, is a stunning record of what feminine beauty used to look like.
The women––including Helen Bennett, Lisa Fonssagrives and Dorian Leigh––have captivating faces, all-knowing eyes and arched brows. Their hair is brushed and pinned into simple updos with strict parts. Shoulders are a point of erotic emphasis, and facial expressions tend toward the imperious and the inscrutable. The models do not project vulnerability. They appear to have interesting personalities. They look––what is it?––sophisticated, old, and rather unlike the adolescents currently gracing the pages of Vogue.
When was the last time you saw a model with knowing eyes? Or an arched brow? It’s enough to make an aesthete nostalgic.
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Very true. Statuesque and intriguing.
..too statuesque, therefore “not” intriguing
( all in the eyes of the beholder I suppose)
In truth you’re both right. If you went into the article, you learned this is part of an exhibit at the Met that explores different ideas of beauty at different times in history. As the curatorial notes put it, models are those “whose elegant poses and gestures” evoke the attitudes of the day.
It goes on to say:
“Models are fascinating for two reasons: they are beautiful and they are beautiful in a way specific to the moment when they become famous. This explains why Kate Moss could never have appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1979, and why Christie Brinkley was nowhere near a Calvin Klein ad in 1993.”
” …’those whose elegant poses and gestures’ evoke the attitudes of the day…”
I want to say something like “condemned out of his own mouth.” Reading between the lines one might think such elegance extinct today. And that is truly enough to make an aesthete nostalgic. Or sad. Maybe that’s just me.
E,
I find it hard to separate whether I feel nostalgia for the time past or the
style and attitudes of what I thought a more cultivated approach to living.
Which is why it’s important that sites like yours remind us.
[...] Photo from: The errant æesthete. [...]
R.I.P. Mr. Penn « A (crazy) little thing called hate said this on 10/11/09 at 09:10:55 |
This is lovely……..