By Liam Belch

♦ Image Analysis ♦

Originally Taken in 1950 this picture has become an iconic surrealist fashion image creating waves throughout the fashion world for its simplicity and striking beauty. Featuring model Jean Patchett the photograph was originally taken in black and white and was then Hand coloured by the Vogue art department. Although rather easily creatable by todays technological standards This photo is a mix of Photographic ingenuity and attention to detail using clever methods such as using Mirrors and violent lighting to disjoint the eye and lips and pure hand crafted dedication to bring the photograph to life with pencil and paint. The striking beauty of the red lips and green eye help to make the image pop and if kept in original format of black and white I think that this image would not have been as well received. This picture helped to create the doe eye look by further pushing the popularity along using the perfect features of Jean Patchett’s face.

Erwin Blumenfeld – Doe eye.

Erwin Blumenfeld – Red cross.

Taken in 1945 this image holds more meaning than what meets the eyes. Fashion photography superimposed with current affairs this particular picture explores the themes about Nazi Germany and war camps and the liberation of the prisoners held there. Fleeing from Nazi Germany in 1941 blumenfeld was one of the highest paid commercial photographers by the end of the 1940’s. I believe the intentional blurring on this picture is to express the loss of identity and that the use of the red tape placed over the printed photograph is specifically used on the body to express distress and need for medical attention. Although used for American Vogue at the time that doesn’t take away from the meaning and compositional efforts of this photograph. More art than commercialist photography. Simple and striking macabre but still fashion.

Erwin Blumenfeld – Untitled.

Taken in 1953 this photograph looks like a real peace of hand painted art but it is actually a photograph using strong and perfectly placed lighting and a model placed behind rippled glass. The way Blumenfeld uses patterns and glass to distort his image shows that he was ahead of his time, even by todays standards with technologies such as Photoshop at our disposal is there anything simpler than using a plane of rippled glass? The use of patterned and special glass within Blumenfeld’s work really stands out creating striking images that amuse and disturb at once. You can still admire the beauty and fashion of this model even though that the features are warped. The colours themselves may have been painted onto the photograph after being developed but this image would be just as striking if it where black and white.

Philippe halsman – Dali atomicus

Taken in 1948 Showing both the edited version and the untouched version This revolutionary image comes from the minds of surrealist artist Salvador Dali and Philippe halsman who worked together for many years to create art. The picture itself is created to look impossible but is actually created very easily. The photographers wife would hold up the chair and the paintings and props would be held up by piano strings and stands which where then removed in the editing process. The image was painstakingly put together and took over 6 and a half hours to get the final result, although there was a large amount of time only 28 shots were taken due to the fact that halsman would have to go to the dark room to develop an image after each shot. No cats were harmed in the process of making the film but halsman says that he and his crew were exhausted. I admire the attention to detail, you will notice that in the touched up version a painting has been placed on the easel but the shadow left untouched purposefully to add a bit more of a surrealist feel.

Philippe Halsman – Untitled.

Taken as part of Philippe halsman’s book on jumpology this is one of his many famous jump pictures. The theory behind jumpology is that when a subject jumps their attention and focus is on the physical act of jumping allowing the subjects true personality to slip through the cracks because their attention is drawn away from the camera and as he puts it this allows the mask to fall. This picture of Marilyn shows her mid jump with a laugh on her face. The expression and the way the hair and dress moves with the jump allow the image to feel more natural and pretty instead of a forced model stood in an awkward pose this way of capturing pictures allows the subject a freedom to be thesmelves without the worry of being on camera and is a more relaxed fun way to Capture models.

Philippe Halsman and Salvador Dali – in Voluptas mors

Another Famous photograph from the collaboration between halsman and Dali this piece is also a portrait of Dali himself. The skull made of nude women is a great way to use the human form as art and to show the relationship between life and death itself. The skull itself was made using specific lighting and numerous models lying and kneeling in various positions on the floor and the portrait of Dali was most likely a separate picture that was cut into the final image in dark room processing. The way the lighting fades and darkens in certain areas help to create the look of a painting instead of an actual photograph which makes this photo stand out. The idea of using black and white technology to create a skull is also a great idea because even if they took it today they would probably make it black and white through editing.