Out of everything I saw in the Irving Penn Gallery, I felt like these are the portraits that screamed out at me. These four intricately connect with each other because these are all features on a face.
- I wonder why Penn & the makeup artist decided to make the model’s skin very white. It certainly made the makeup on the first model in the first picture stand out. I wonder what Penn was trying to accomplish when he photographed the model with eight vastly different lip stick colors.
- The contrast between the dangerous bumblebee and the lips definitely stood out to me. At any moment, the bee could potentially sting the model’s lips. On the other hand, the model’s lips can kiss the bee as well. There is a slice of unpredictability in this portrait. Both love and danger are incorporated in this one portrait and I admire its simplicity as well. I wonder what inspired Penn to mix nature and make-up together, because nature and make-up are two opposite things.
- Wow, I wonder how the model felt when the splash of cold paint (or liquid)hit her face. I admire how detailed the drops of paint are when they hit her face. When I first looked at this, I was shocked, yet I admired the beauty behind the purity of this portrait. I wonder what Penn was trying to achieve behind this portrait.
- I saved the best for last! This portrait is my favorite out of the four above. The whiteness of the skin contrasted well with the redness of the eye. I believe this portrait represents the moment when a young woman puts makeup on for the first time. It can be painful if any of the makeup goes into the eye, thus making her eye red and somewhat swollen. This portrait reminds me of Black Swan, the movie. The red eyes, the white skin, and the exaggerated makeup really brings out the reference. I wonder if the movie’s make up artists were inspired by Penn…
Hey Teresa! I agree with your curiosity of the different portraits! To me, everything except the first portrait shocks me. All the portrait except the first one kind of scares me and I feel that they want to show pain. Those three portraits seems like it’s explaining pain through the beauty. It seems like the concept is pain is beauty and shows how beauty is pain. The first one is to show the beauty that makeup has, the affect makeup does to a person. The main concept of all these four portraits is beauty. Thanks for putting up this post. Your questions helped me developed this view. Do you understand and see my point of view perhaps?
@Suzie Yes! Oh my gosh! Nice insight! Pain is a good word for these four portraits. I like how you made the connection with pain is beauty and beauty is pain. I didn’t think of that. In my opinion, the fourth one has the most meaning to them all because you can actually see the physical pain that the model is experiencing. I can hear the model screaming for help as the mascara brushes through her eyelashes. Awesome feedback!