Loving the Work of >> Subhankar Banerjee
Caribou Migration I
While at first they may seem like maybe they could fit simply into a nature-photography niche suitable for calendars, they are are soo much more. First, you should know looking at these images that these are huge. Around 6ft x 6ft. You truly feel like you are with him in the helicopter looking down over vast, magnificent swaths of land.
Art in America essay on Sundaram Tagore website.
Bon Weekend
Young Love
These two lovebirds met on a blind date, bonded over their Sicilian heritage and shared desire to return to the island, and spent the next year travelling together and falling in love. One day she opened her front door to a bouquet and a note that said, “I love you, I need you, let’s get married!”
My own widowed grandfather remarried at a spry 91, to a scandalously (as he liked to think) younger 85-year old bride, and these incredible photos by Elizabeth Messina remind me of his school-boyish love for his woman. They are actually of her own grandfarther!
More here.
Hedi Slimane
More at his diary here, but I warn you, it’s addictive, and there are thousands of images.
The Usual Suspects
Lola
Photographer Joshua Scott was hired to do the product shots for Marc Jacob’s new Lola perfume. Instead, he was inspired to, as he said, “attempt to photograph the product without actually photographing the product but rather the ideas and emotions that combine to create the product.”
According to Scott, since all perfume shots are just shots of liquid in a bottle, he wanted to do something different. Pretty clever way to capture the intangible effect of a scent!
Eadward Muybridge
Isn’t this video cool? It’s a composite of time lapse photographs by early photographer Eadweard Muybridge. I think it’s so neat that his stop-motion photographs are now able to be put back together to create very early motion-pictures..
Here are some of his works (1880s), which you may recognize, and which I love for a reason I haven’t put my finger on. Also of note, he influenced Sol LeWitt early on… a fascination with process?
Ok and lastly, going forward in time again, can you see how Muybridge influenced Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase (1912)?
GQ’s 50 Most Stylish Men
7 favorite shots from GQ’s 50 Most Stylish Men of the Past 50 Years
(The descriptions are great too if you click for full size.)
via fashion blog Maison Chaplin, which I discovered on Nick’s blog, and I do tend to listen to anything dear Nick recommends.
Hello Picasso
I LOVE these fantastic photos of Picasso playing with light. They were inspired by work by Gjon Mili, who also photographed him here “drawing” with a small flashlight in a dark studio.
Via Cup of Joe and more cool photos from the series on Life‘s website.
And, they reminded me of a book I’ve been wanting – Goodbye Picasso by David Douglas Duncan. It’s an intimate look at Picasso in his studio and home. The cover is a self-portrait by Picasso of himself as an owl done in ink with a photograph of his eyes collaged in.
From the bookjacket:
“[The book contains a selection of] tens of thousands [of photos] taken during the next seventeen years when David Douglas Duncan often shared the simple meals, the constant work, the gaiety, the countless explosions of creativity.
After other guests had gone, Duncan still remained in the studio — by now his second home. Thus was born a friendship unique in the lives of both men. Two minds, two hearts, each discovering a special communication with the other.
While photographing hundreds of Picasso’s paintings, surrounded by myriad other works that overflowed the studio, Duncan also recorded many of the emotion-charged events at the heart of the household.”
Picasso sparring with his son Claude.
Picasso and Jacqueline, Picasso showing his dear Lump a plate he has made bearing his portrait.
Picasso at work.
His studio at Villa la Californie, full of his works just propped here and there. Notice Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (image below), 1907, in the background. This shot gives a good sense of how big it is! This photo was taken in 1960– I didn’t realize this painting remained in his private collection that long. It now hangs in the Moma. Or maybe this was a sketch for it? The ground looks much darker than in the image below, but maybe that’s just the lighting. Also, I love the textile draped on the rocker by Jacqueline.
His own collection included works by Matisse, Degas, Modiglianis, Cezanne, etc.
A rare posed-looking shot amongst mostly intimate, casual candids. Also, I love that he seems to be shirtless (and/or pantsless) most of the time. The more photos I looked through, the more apparent this became. His total comfort with partial nudity, combined with his often very engaged, active stances, gives him such a vital and alive loo
k, like he was just bursting at the seams with creativity.
Picasso and Jacqueline.
