When we went to Pace Galleries, you may have noticed Irving Penn’s Lipstick photograph.

Irving Penn Lipstick Photograph

I thought it was coincidental for us to see a photo about lipstick after Greg Broom showed us a photo about lipstick. Greg Broom explained that the background of his photograph shows the different colors of the lipstick. He could have also put it on someone’s lip as Penn did. However, he put it on paper. Perhaps Penn wasn’t showing the colors of lipstick but it certainly is one thing he does show.

Seeing photographs of two different photographers helps show how different visions of artists can be. Seeing all the different ideas to show the same thing is just one of the reasons to appreciate and explore art.

How would you go about showing different colors of lipstick?

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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…

Morocco, Vogue 1971

This is written next to these two photographs. Vogue. I thought to myself, what a strange title to a piece that’s appears the complete opposite, but perhaps it’s an expression, a way to make you think – or perhaps in Morocco this was the embodiment of vogue, that this was their fashion. I later learned that the gallery entitled it Vogue because it was featured in the famous fashion magazine. This still came as a shock, these pictures do not seem in the style of Vogue, they in fact it seem far from it. For a fashion magazine that normally idolizes models in revealing clothing and make-up, it seems strange to feature women in full length, head-to-toe traditional clothing, with their accessory as bread.

As we study and attempt to understand the women in these photographs, it can be difficult. These women’s bodies are hidden, specifically the most expressive part – the face. The women have become indistinguishable and seemingly emotionless, these women can be anyone – their expressions can range indefinitely. It’s saddening, but it seems as though these women have been simplified to sheets, likened to mute statues. However, despite this simplification, by looking at the photograph, I can almost feel their pain. The black and white filter creates an eerie quality and an overall gloomy tone. All I can do is try to feel and surmise their thoughts or concerns. And what I feel, is their oppression: their constriction of clothing, their lack of breath and perhaps, lack of free speech. The social implications presented in these photographs are vast, and the insight they provide into Morocco in 1971 is perhaps far greater than we realize. I believe that with these pictures, Irving Penn gave these women a voice, and perhaps what each of us will hear, will all be quite different.