shprojectphotography - Tumblr blog

shprojectphotography · 6 years

Text

Essays on Art during my studies at Goldsmiths University

THE MENZALIAN SIUBJECTS AND THEIR POWER TO ABSORB

by Stephanie Houghton

FIGURE 1. Adolph Menzel, The Théâtre du Gymnase, 1856, oil on canvas, 46x62, Nationalgalerie, Berlin.

In this essay, the act of attention is being foregrounded. As Michael Fried has observed years ago: “the demand that the artist bring about a paradoxical relationship between painting and beholder – specifically, that he find a way to neutralize or negate the beholder’s presence, to establish the fiction that no one is standing before the canvas.” Here, Fried suggests, is a shift happening in what once was understood as complete painting, is now entering the realm of the autonomous. The central thesis in this paper is based around Friend’s concept of ‘theatricality’ and ‘absorption’, and its relation to the ways we address paintings after Denis Diderot (1713- 1784). The concept of ‘absorption’, was originally found in Denis Diderot’s studies on new principles of organization of pictorial space. Diderot achieved this by dwelling on paintings of Chardin and Greuze, proving that they form a new ethical and aesthetic value system, and a new theory of composition that overcomes the ‘’intimately decorative’’ reaction of the Rococo period, which had a tendency to turn the picture into a kind of theatrical stage, towards the ‘’high seriousness’’. According to Diderot, the tendency of inexhaustibility in a work of art must always give a reason for the game of an imagination. By developing Diderot’s ideas, Michael Fried conceptualizes observations made by Diderot and provides us with new insights into works of art. ‘Theatricality’, in Fried’s terms, is not about the performance or a spectacle per se, but a beholder. It opens up a question whether a painting has to include a spectator in order for it to be complete, and if so, the work can be considered as theatrical. If it can perform autonomously, it is then denied of it’s ‘theatricality’. What is important to consider when exploring Fried’s theory is that the act of representation is no longer external, and instead is built into the painting. Regardless of the fact that Fried’s concept of ‘absorption’ was mainly concerned with early and mid-1750s French paintings, his ideas have managed to attain an international recognition. Menzel’a paintings, however, were epitomized Germany. By being confronted with Fried’s complex theory, I have made an attempt to apply his ideas to Adolph Menzel’s paintings, in particular his later pieces such as ‘’Supper at the Ball’’ and his other fascinating pieces ’Crown Prince Frederick Pays a Visit to the Painter Pesne on His Scaffolding at Rheinsberg’’, and ‘’Marketplace in Verona’’. Along with the play of sensations that the painting can provide us with, the properties of ‘absorption’ and ‘theatricality’ show a dual role in the process of overcoming the theatrical painting: first, it becomes the basis for the emergence of a new kind of Realism that is radically different; secondly, it’s mechanisms to achieve self-worth and autonomy in paintings as such, as the necessary conditions for the birth of modern art.

Adolph Menzel’s life and work celebrates the conditions, attitudes and tastes of Prussian culture, primarily the city of Berlin. Menzel’s hand has developed the stylistics of German Realism with a strong narrative. The artist was influenced by his predecessor Caspar David Friendrich, one of the leaders of German Romanticism. Later on, the classic of German painting has inspired Edgar Degas, who considers himself as Menzel’s successor. The art historian Peter Paret has suggested that Menzel’s compositions are ‘’daring, and his free brushstrokes possess great suggestive power; his narrative expresses a penetrating intelligence’’.

FIGURE 2. Adolph Menzel ‘’Supper at the Ball’’,1878, oil on canvas, 71x90, Nationalgalerie, Berlin.

Another art historian, who is also fond of Menzel’s oeuvre, Peter Peret, has observed the great ethos in Menzel’s narrative. He claims; ‘’At his best, he uncovers infinite riches in everyday life. But when he moves from sketches to a painting, narrative pushed too far may damage its cohesion and impact. Menzel’s oeuvre is marked by an unusual combination of opposites.’’ Perhaps, Menzel’s rapid brushstrokes indicate that his subject cannot remain stationary in order to be drawn accurately. The painting ‘’Supper at the Ball’’ (Fig. 2) tends to fall under Peret’s category of a ‘’narrative pushed too far’’, as ‘’the chaos we see here –one overflowing with both complexity and specifity-is best described as a studied chaos.’’ The compositional balance is broken, and instead the painting is overpopulated with the exclusive crowd of Prussian court, both men and women struggling to find a place to rest or encounter. However, nothing in the painting’s motif is repressed in favour of the other, nothing is given a secondary significance, which is peculiar. Such complexity can be seen alongside Mannerist paintings, which stylistics and objects were rendered and compound in an act of ‘’movement’’. Menzel is shown to be an artist who not only explodes our temporal understanding of events, but positions his figures in an essentially disorganized framework.’’ Neither the beholder, not the extravagant public depicted on the canvas acknowledges that they are or can be watched. One can perhaps suggest that ‘’Supper at the Ball’’ falls into Friend’s category of a successfully ignored beholder. However, at the same time, the public has gathered there to be seen. All these lavish costumes and respectable titles worn by high status men and women are insisting on attention. But is that signal directed to the beholder in front of the painting or the people in the panting before whom they appear so immaculately attractive? At the same time to Michael Fried, the concepts of ‘absorption’ and ‘theatricality’ have been associated not so much with the audience, but the figure of the character being depicted. As Fried suggests; “This was to be done in the first place by depicting figures so engrossed or (a key term in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century criticism) absorbed in what they were doing, thinking and feeling that they appeared oblivious of everything else, including the beholder standing before the painting. To the extent that the painter succeeded in that aim, the beholder’s existence was effectively ignored or, put more strongly, denied; the figures in the painting appeared alone in the world (alternatively we may say that the world of the painting appeared self-sufficient, autonomous, a closed system independent of, in that sense blind to, the world of the beholder), though it was also true that only by making a painting that appeared to ignore or deny or be blind to the beholder in this way could the painter accomplish his ultimate purpose – bringing actual viewers to a halt in front of the painting and holding them there in a virtual trance.”Can one suggest that Menzel’s characters are autonomous?

This centrality on the act of attention, which have also been taken up by Jonathan Crary in Techniques of the Observer (1990), has created a new paradigm in what he calls the ‘’autonomization of sight’’, an endless oscillation of senses, in which, as Michael Fried have agreed, emerges a ‘’newly ‘’purified’’ form’’ of vision. It is seen, in many art historical texts, that nineteenth-century subject, which gave birth to genre painting, Realism and Impressionism, was announced to be the greatest time of optical experience and modernization. Our attention is changed and no longer demands a passive participation. Crary’s argument lies in this shift from the global balance to an act of touch. You become aware of the touch of the brush differentiating the parts, as seen in Menzel’s work and the actual ‘’touch’’ in the painting’s subject. Taking Crary’s observations as the basis for further discussion, the following points can be made. Fried draws an analogy between Menzel and the Frenchman Gustave Courbet, as he also painted in the nineteenth-century. Fried has proclaimed Courbet for his ability to ‘’ transport himself as if corporeally into the painting’’ and express the sense of his ‘’own embodiedness and to negate or neutralize his status as first beholder’’. His paintings contained emotionally and materially weighted subjects, as seen in ‘’The Grain Sifters’’ and ‘’Self-portrait (Man with Leather Belt)’’, in which Fried particularly emphasized on the physicality of the human hand. What Fried seems to develop in his thesis on theatricality is a theme of bodily identification. Alongside Gustave Courbet, Menzel’s artwork can be treated in a similar manner Fried has treated Courbet. There is a range of multiple operations being performed in ‘’Supper at the Ball’’. Amongst them are the movements, such as ‘’the near-impossibility of eating a buffet meal while standing up’’. Fried writes, that in order to understand the composition, one has to unbind the composition and look at it in detail. This is where the concept of absorption becomes active. Sooner or later our attention becomes taken by a man trying to balance his hat within his legs meanwhile consuming his dinner (as seen towards our left on the canvas when looking at it), or an abandoned plate, a champagne glass and pieces of cutlery on a chair next to this man on the right. In the same manner, another of Menzel’s paintings titled ‘’Crown Prince Frederick Pays a Visit to the Painter Pesne on His Scaffolding at Rheinsberg’’ (Fig.3) is an obvious comparison containing these seemingly unnoticeable details likewise in ‘’Supper at the Ball’’. The abandoned dishes left on a chair, (which Fried has pointed out in ‘’Supper at the Ball’’), is being replicated here, although, here we see a single wine glass being left on a piece of decorative balustrade. Amongst the intricacy and brilliance of the interior décor in Menzel’s gouache piece, we are also witnessing the apparent vivacity of inanimate objects, such as a wooden mannequin being rested on the floor with his hand stretched out, the unexpected splashes of paint and the silence of a played violin. Similarly to Courbet’s ‘’Painters Studio’’, our gaze ‘’roves continually, coming to rest first here, then there, without settling permanently anywhere’’.The viewer becomes absorbed as he tries to grasp these small, but integral parts of Menzel’s ‘’Supper at the Ball’’ and ‘’Crown Prince Frederick Pays a Visit to the Painter Pesne on His Scaffolding at Rheinsberg’’. Such examples are theatrical, as they arrest our attention and invite us to intertwine with these seemingly temporal performances. Within this play of imagination, Fried sees ‘’Supper at the Ball’’ as a painting which was done with respect to momentariness and duration, as if the ‘’artist had a moment before put his dinning utensils down in order to paint his picture.’’

FIGURE 3. Adolph Menzel, ‘’Crown Prince Frederick Pays a Visit to the Painter Pesne on His Scaffolding at Rheinsberg’’, 1861, gouache on paper, board backing, 24x32,Nationalgalerie, Berlin.

Margaret Iversen, by reading a close study of Fried, writes that ‘’Friend’s ideal of coherence is completely internal, even hermetically sealed- the type of painting he admires is ‘‘self – sufficient, a closed system which in effect seals off the space or world of the painting from that of the beholder’’.Fried’s interest in painting tend to lie in the heart of Ponty’s argument, in which he states that concealment is part of a perception process as well. As I have mentioned before, ‘’Absorption is a total enthrallment to the point of self-forgetting’’. It is the state of obliviousness that becomes so absorptive. There is also a sense of temporality in both of the paintings. There is this precise moment which Menzel chose to depict that allows him to capture both the fleetingness and the crush of the crowd. The use of oil paint as a medium contributes towards flexibility. Painting here is a performance of traces and brush marks full of ambiguity and meaning. Subjects are rendered through light and dark contrasts. The painter allows marks to remain marks on purpose. Certainly, in Menzel’s work one must concentrate on little aspects in order to create a narrative. The viewer is put into participating dialogue with the painting. Margaret Iversen then continues; ‘’Absorption is a guarantee of plausible narrative; the figures are not guilty for posing for the spectator because they are so manifestly oblivious to being observed.’’ These ultimately undefinable faces of individuals who are engaged in social interactions in ‘’Supper at the Ball’’ contrasts with the size and density of the larger crowd, where everyone seems to be getting in someone else’s way. Menzel’s intentions in this painting involve actions unfolding. It almost as if even Menzel when creating this piece didn’t rely on a reliable story plot, rather allowed his subjects to open to the viewer unintentionally. Fried, has also observed this consistency in Menzel who ‘’was passionately concerned with evoking aspects of his subject-matter that could not strictly or directly be seen but could only be intuited, or otherwise imagined on the basis of the visual evidence.’’ If these were in fact Menzel’s implications, precisely that sort of unconscious action is a sign of intense absorption.

Alongside Iversen’s response to Fried’ interest in the inaccessible and veiled, Louis Edmond Duranty responses to Menzel’s ‘’Supper at the Ball’’ by giving favour to its compositional wildness. He praises this:

‘’...wild and deformed hidden beneath these embroideries and laces, this hurly-burly, these contrasts, the outburst of instincts, of appetites, under the levelling down of usages and moeurs, the few physical or moral elegances swimming across the violent of faded vulgarity of civilized man, the strangeness of this crowd, of this animal, or its forms, its habits, its manias, all the elements of the immense curiosity, the immense raillery and the immense stupefaction...’’

In Duranty’s approach, the artist is associated with extremeness or absoluteness of the idea of spontaneity, an involuntary response to the world around him. By reading Duranty’s response, one can say that Menzel’s compositions are a subject of contraction, as its elements are being divided and almost cut out if we look at ‘’Supper at the Ball’’ and ‘’Marketplace in Verona’’ (Fig. 4). Both canvases tend to project the ‘’bodily difficulty of the multiple operations’’, a space without boundaries which creates this stunning virtuoso experience. ‘’Marketplace in Verona’’ is depicting a crowd of an Italian town citizens and tourists shopping and working on the market. Fried associates this scene with Simmel’s critique of the metropolis, although Simmel’s theory postdates Menzel’s paintings by almost twenty years, Fried sees a great resonance with what Simmel calls a blasé attitude. The essence of Simmel blasé attitude consists in ‘’an indifference toward the distinctions between things.’’ Each individual is being so absorbed in their own routine, that no one pays attention to what is happening around, neither to the observer who might be watching them at a distance. See for example a man who has climbed on top of the canopy to catch something (towards the left) or that woman carrying a small child making her way home after purchasing some necessary groceries, or even that old woman behind her who is so oblivious to the crowd around her in the foreground of the painting. Simmel main argument in his essay lies in individualism, an emotional alienation from everyone. This ‘’bodily proximity and narrowness of space makes the mental distance [between individuals] only more visible.’’ The ‘’Marketplace in Verona’’ can be seen as a primal form of what we now call cosmopolitan city. Indeed, each of the Menzelian character has a life of their own. They can exist separately, such as that man who I have mentioned previously who attempts to balance his hat between his legs while consuming food in ‘’Supper at the Ball’’, that solitary musician playing a violin in ‘’ ’Crown Prince Frederick Pays a Visit to the Painter Pesne on His Scaffolding at Rheinsberg’’, and this scene of a disorientated crowd in the middle of a piazza in Italy.

FIGURE 4. Adolph Menzel, ‘’Pizza d-Erbe in Verona , (Marketplace in Verona)’’, 1884, oil on canvas, 74x127, Gemaldegalerie, Neuer Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlunge, Dresden.

Throughout this essay, I was in the position to consider Adolph Menzel’s masterpieces within the framework of Fried’s theatricality and absorption, although he himself claimed that he would be ‘’mistaken to assimilate Menzel’s art to the paradigm of absorption.’’Although, ‘’Supper at the Ball’’ seems to fall under Diderot’s concept of the tableaux, a new stage dramaturgy that you would find in painting, rather than theatre. Fried stresses this in Absorption and Theatricality: ‘’Diderot urged playwrights to give up contriving elaborate coups de theatre (surprising turns of the plot, reversals, revelations), whose effect he judged to be shallow and fleeting at best, and instead to seek what he called tableaux (visually satisfying, essentially silent, seemingly accidental groupings of figures), which if properly managed he believed were capable of moving an audience to the depths of its collective being.’’The tableaux of ‘’mere proliferation of incident’’ in a painted scene provides us with an intense ‘’pictorial dramatic experience than the French theatre had hitherto envisaged.’’Michael Fried approaches Menzel’s art with a compelling idea that the viewer is ‘’repeatedly invited to perform feasts of imaginative projection‘’.This means that the act of viewing a painting invites the viewer to participate in this appearance of complex and kaleidoscopic plot cluttered with detail. What we are witnessing in Menzel’s paintings is that play of imagination, which Diderot himself appreciated and found as a true spirit of theatricality.

References

Claude Keisch and Marie Ursula Riemann-Reyher, ‘’Adolph Menzel 1815-1905: Between

Romanticism and Impressionism’’, (New Haven & London: Yale University Press,1996). Crary, Jonathan, Suspensions of Perception: Attention, Spectacle and Modern Culture,

(Cambridge, Massachusetts & London: The MIT Press, 1999). Fried, Michael, ‘’Absorption and Theatricality: Painting and Beholder in the Age of Diderot’’,

(Berkeley, Los Angeles & London: University of California Press, 1980).

Fried, Michael, ‘’Menzel’s Realism: Art and Embodiment in Nineteenth-Century Berlin’’, (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2002).

Fried, Michael, Courbet’s Realism, (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1900). James Gurney, Drawings and Paintings, (Mineola & New York: Dover Publications, 2016).

Margaret Iversen, ‘’Alois Riegl: Art History and Theory’’, (Cambridge, Massachussets & London: MIT Press, 1993).

Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, trans. Colin Smith, Phenomenology of Perception, (London: Routledge, 1962).

Paret, Peter, ‘’German Encounters with Modernism 1840-1945’’, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001).

Simmel, Georg, ‘’The Metropolis of Mental Life’’ in G.Bridge and S.Watson, The Balckwell City Reader, (Oxford, Malden & Massachussets: Blackwell, 2002).

Wood, Paul,‘’Jason Geiger: Modernity in Germany: the many sides of Adolph Menzel’’ in The Challenge of the Avant-Garde, (New Haven & London: Yale University Press,1999).

Other Sources: ‘’Adolph Menzel, The Supper at the Ball [Das Ballsouper], 1878’’, accessed on 26th of

October, 2016, http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=1268. ‘’ Differing Views: the Tuileries Gardens, Paris, France’’, last modified August 31st, 2015,

https://eclecticlight.co/2015/08/31/differing-views-the-tuileries-gardens-paris-france/.

#art essays #university #writtenpiece #art #paintings #menzel #germany #fried

0 notes

shprojectphotography · 6 years

Text

1. Nivea Shower Mousse Rhubarb & Raspberry 200ml

New product from Nivea! An absolute must have for women who like intensive aromas. It’s very lightweight and Nivea should definitely create a travel size one as well. Psst, I’ll tell you a trick, you can also use if instead of a shaving foam, meanwhile saving some money. I love when brands experiment with smells rather than just creating basic strawberry or lavender shower gels. See more flavours here: https://www.nivea.co.uk/shop/shower-silk-mousse-rhubarb-raspberry-40059004453910045.html. Should try the wild raspberry & white tea. For tea lovers, its a great combo. And yes, only £2.99 on Ocado. Not sure if you can buy it in stores yet or just online for now...

2. Schwarzkopf LIVE Colour Spray Granite Grey 120ml

For those who do not die their hair and those who do, a quick spray in your beach curls will create a nice sparkling effect! Depending on which color you buy, (mine is grey), your ends can be complimented with a nice shade for a night out. It washes off after only one wash! Be careful when spraying, make sure you do it at a distance otherwise some areas will be more defined than other. Oops :) Buy at Boots: http://www.boots.com/schwarzkopf-live-colour-spray-granite-grey-120ml-10242173

3. Bayle’s of Bond Street Hand Soap- Quintessentially British.

This is now the only soap I use. Already tried Blueberry & Waterlily and Cucumber & Bergamot flavour and very happy with them. Very intensive smell and again, a company which experiments. The green one matched with my bathroom infuser, therefore I go for a Cucumber & Bergamot one very often. Overall, costs £3 for 500ml or, if an offer is on, £1.50. I normally obtain them on Ocado-online food store. Also available at Tesco’s. See their website here: https://www.bayleysofbondstreet.co.uk/

4. The Pier Reed Diffusers

Unfortunately, available only in my hometown,Riga. Every time I go back to Latvia I visit Spice Home mall where The Pier store is and get one of these room diffusers. Each costs €14.99 in Euro currency. I really recommend them as pier does many different exotic scents such as Canadian Landscape and Japanese Garden. I wish they did 100ml versions as well so I could put them in my hand luggage each time I travel. Here is their website for more flavours: https://pier.lv/lv/istabas-aromatizetaji-2348.

5. The Dior Forever Undercover Foundation

I got a free tester in a Glamour magazine and went to Boots to get it. Absolutely fell in love and can’t wait to buy one. Yes, pretty pricey (£34) but, oh my, it’s a worth it purchase. Its great for my skin, as I have normal skin. Its does not collect stains from my usually ‘’stainful’’ foundation every time I use a tissues for my nose!This feature made me switch from Kiko to Dior. Although, I love Kiko. See here: https://www.dior.com/beauty/en_gb/fragrance-beauty/makeup/face/foundation/pr-foundation-y0009000-24h*-full-coverage-fluid-foundation.html

6. Guerlain Perfumed Body Lotion

Another lovely product from Guerlain which I came across at the Glamour fair. I love the bottle design and the smell. Price: £40.50. Here is the link to The Perfume Shop: https://www.theperfumeshop.com/guerlain/mon-guerlain/body-lotion-for-her/p/22010BLTNBL. If you buy there, they always give you a freebie or a nice discount. Great website to get designer brands perfumes!

7. Versace Dylan Blue For Her

I can’t wait to get this perfume.The scent is very sophisticates so is the design. The price as well tho.. £99 for 100 ml. I will have to either keep going into House and Fraser store to spray myself or buy one asap. At lest the second version is more legal....It contains my favourite woody notes with berries and fruits. Very sensuous smell. If you buy it at Boots you will also receive a Versace backpack.. 2 in 1. Get it before me: http://www.boots.com/Versace-Dylan-Blue-Pour-Femme-Eau-de-Parfum-50ml-10243589

8. Baylis & Harding Scented Candles

My love for scented candles is endless. I bought half price last time.I really appreciate aesthetic packaging. Buy on Ocado or other stores:https://www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Baylis--Harding-Jojoba-Silk--Almond-Oil-Triple-Wick-Scented-Candle/297797011

9. Last, but not least. Tea from Kafijas Pupina

Again, only obtained in Latvia. They can deliver abroad if you kindly ask. My favourite is Rio -white tea with a touch of vanilla and grapefruit. Amazingly exotic and delicious. Without this tea,I can’t start my day. Also tried green Sencha with an ingredient called Ginko, a tree commonly known for it’s health benefits. They do very unique flavours and they sell for around £4.50 per 100 grams. Whittard of Chelsea loses here. I recommend also trying a really nice favour called Purple Rose. Must visit their website: http://kafijaspupina.lv/

I guess, that’s it for now!

Guys, please comment if you want to see more favourites from me! I am thinking of doing a post of favourite foods and a designer haul on how to find cheap designer items, so let me know below. Also, if you want me to do a tour around my flat let me know! With love and best wishes, SH Project aka stefanioflaneur. Check me on Instagram for more!

#favorites #blog #style #nivea #versace #tea #designer #instagram #reviews #sh #project

0 notes

shprojectphotography · 6 years

Text

I will begin with the best. SkyGarden is more cheaper and more luxurious experience than the famous London Eye attraction. There are cons to than of course...You have to book WELL IN ADVANCE or take a chance. If you chose the second, you have to wake up early to get there in time.Even tho on the website it says that the free entry for walk-in guests is until 11am on weekends,do not arrive at 11 on point. Come an hour early as walk-ins are subject to availability. One day you can find yourself being rejected to come like I was last week,(haha). It was not fun on the day....However, me and my friend managed to get in a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday with no problem. You cna grab a coffee and a pastry on the 35th floor and enjoy the view. Prices are very reasonable. Here is the link: https://skygarden.london/

A place of serenity. Must visit the Japanese’s creation: Kyoto Gardens. The park closes early, so keep in mind the opening times. See here: https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/parks/holland-park. Located in the heart of Notting Hill. Don’t forget to pop to Portabello Road Market! (Saturdays the best days).

There is also a large chess board. Great for photo shoots!

Like brick‘n’brack? It’s for everyone. Portabello Road Market is located in Notting Hill. For everyone from music lovers to stamp collectors. You don’t have to buy, just come and see. Grab a bargain or a hot dog. Don’t forget, Holland Park is round the corner!

Must See: Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and both Westfields. You never know, but there might be freebies waiting for you! :) Always nice to have a spray of new perfumes and perhaps, if you buy fashion magazines, always bring the invitations to the stores to get a free make over or a product tester!

Visit Universities, even if you are already studying somewhere. There are always free to visit and you can listen to talks and lectures which might be an interest for you.

Mari Vanna -for the Russian ghetto

Aubaine- French chain

Gail’s -for coffee and a fresh pastry

ELAN Cafe-for a girl’s night out with desserts and roses

PRET-for a quick snack

Chicama- for a fish feast

Oliver’s Maki or Sticks’n’Sushi-sushi best

Burger & Lobster-YES PLEASE!

Farm Girl-Get ready for the crowd in the mornings. MUST for breakfast lovers!

Camden Street Market and London Borough Market-must must must

Always check Times Out London for more festival events.There is also a festival happening as London is a multi-national city which celebrates all kinds of holidays!For instance, the Russian Maslenitsa is a weekly festival dedicated to the traditional culinary of ‘’blini’’ in Russia.

No one does it better than London!Always check for the what’s on on Times Out London! https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/whats-on/musicals

I hope you found this post useful and please DO NOT HESITATE TO FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM OR ASK A QUESTION.I am always here to help you guys round London <3 :) Yours, stefanioflaneur!

#tours #london #spring #march2018 #fashion #theatre #mustsee #park #city #plan #chick #cheap

0 notes

shprojectphotography · 6 years

Text

Yes.This is absolutely an epic event.MUST GO AND SEE next year in 2019. The Glamour Beauty Festival been going on for 3 years now. Fortunately, this year I have managed to spot a large advertisement on London bus and it attracted my attention. As a fashion lover and a daughter of a beauty therapist, of course I went online to purchase the tickets.Luckily,I had my friend coming over from Riga to join me. Now,straight to the point. Why go?

1. Goodie Bags which worth around £200. Yes,here is the pic below with everything that we got from the fair.

Glamour staff were generous enough to spoil us with big brands such as NARS, Guerlain,OGX hair, Sleek,MakeUpForever, Revlon and Schwarzkopf. We got hairsprays,matte lipsticks and pigments, primers, concealers, highlighters, shampoos,conditioners, tonic waters,cleansers and even a burst of taste from Twinings tea! the tickets which cost £42 pounds were absolutely worth the value. You can even add a refund option in case you dont manage to attend. Not many events allow this,so this is another great point added to their profile.

2. Timing and location. Perfect time for Friday as you can finish work and go straight there. we went on Friday, 9th March, at 5pm in the heart of London, The Saatchi Gallery where the Chanel exhibition took place a couple of years ago.

3. Fancy meeting celebrities? Yes,please! Pixie Lott was kind enough to donate her presence to a hair demo with famous Larry King hairdresser. For the Pixie is was ‘’All About Tonight’’. Absolutely loved the Q&A session.

4. Free treatments. It would be great if everyone who went there went without make up and their hair done as you can get every treatment done ranging from skin care to a finished up look with makeup and hair. Of course, there are queues and yes,it’s a pain. Especially at the smoky eyes station by NARS....So had to chose less famous brands but it did not mean that they are worse than others.. Managed to get a nice braid by OGX hair care brand in and a little contouring session with Revlon. Also participated at OGX’s competition and hopefully will win a yearly subscription!(The reason why I have participated is because not many have participated).

5. 200% Instagram friendly event. If you post pics with hashtags-you get nice prizes and freebies. Loved it. Get your phones ready for next year!

#whathairwants #instagram #glamourbeauty #festival #saatchi

0 notes

shprojectphotography · 6 years

Text

Happy February people and I hope this winter has been life-changing and joyful!I have not been writing for a while as I have been busy at work and figuring our what I will be doing in my life next...as usual . Lots to learn, get inspired and show dedication. This 2018 I want to dedicate my time to doing something I will enjoy as I am unable to cope with my energy anymore :) At lest at this point I have realized what i enjoy doing the most and it is interacting with people, making creative and beautiful things and inspiring people. As its winter time and I still have time to share some of my latest photo works done at YEKO Studios in Riga this December 2017. You can rent any room with amazing interior designs. Love finding things which spark my ideas! Check out their website:

http://yeko.lv/

And in the meantime, here is to-do list this year:

*learn graphic design and web-design to make my own website

*do more creative things and inspire others

*be more business minded and stress free

*do more interesting workouts (I get bored easily)

*more doing, less thinking!

Model: Lera Ross (my dearest friend and soul)

Location:Riga

0 notes

shprojectphotography · 7 years

Text

‘‘The system we grew up with is based on a simple formula:Do your job.Show up.Work hard.Listen to the boss. Stick it out.Be part of the system.You’ll be rewarded.That’s the scam. Strong words, but true.You’ve been scammed.You traded for years of your life to be a part of a giant con in which you most definitely not a winner.’‘ (p. 14)

W H Y G R A B I T A N D R E A D IT

Well, that is something to think about.As a motivational book lover, after ‘’GIRLBOSS’’ and ‘’The Bingo Theory’’ I was looking for a valuable material to review. Seth, I’ve been looking for you. The book is for those who are restless or tired from being an ordinary slave to labour. Who is tired and bored of rules. Who want to build business or is not ready for it just yet, but wants to change his job routine here and now. This research, which Seth Godin provides us with, is full of contemporary examples of people who are linchpins or became linchpins in their life. But who are these mysterious linchpins who have great jobs and feel great at doing what they do?

I was watching another vlog by Alex Ikonn and his monthly May favorites and TA-DA it hit. (You can watch him here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q7DUUWmqsQ) This book was featured in his monthly favorites. I was looking to read something for a while, but nothing really catched my eye amongst these authors such as Timothy Ferris and Ron Friedman. I guess I am not ready to start my own business or maybe I am just not sure yet. I am just fed up of being fed of being at work and looking for the right place. I am restless and I believe it is for my benefit. So, ‘’Linchpin’’ enters my life in the face of an emotional catharsis. Don’t know if I will ever be a CEO, but I am a linchpin for sure.

T H E R E U S E D T O B E T W O T E A M S : M A N A G E M E N T A N D L A B O U R

N O W T H E R E I S A T H I R D T E A M : T H E L I N C H P I N S

Seth Godin sees a linchpin in those who are not afraid to release their inner geniousness. Geniousness does not have to be something extraordinary, its just being creative! Creative, not as in artistic, but as in your genuine approach and your strong will to gamble. In today’s economy, the word creative is full of ambiguities. Today’s economy needs more than just a factory worker. It needs an inventor. Everyone can have an A grade CV or a graduate diploma from Oxford University. But what can make you stand out really? Although all these words might seem daunting, Seth makes it clear that being a linchpin involves emotional, and not just physical labour. Its about connecting with your heart, doing good and doing more than it says in your job requirement book or contract. Inventing new ways of approach and not following the map. There is always someone who creates an extraordinary work place and let it be you.

For example, here is a differentiation between worker as a linchpin and working as worker. A story that happened with me and happens with all of us all the time.A few days ago, on an ordinary working Saturday after a day at work, I sat at Victoria Station waiting for my train to go home.My train was running late and the board wasn't showing a platform at which it suppose to arrive.Usually, its Platform 2. It was 20:00, and my train leaves at 20:07.I asked a gentleman who works for Southeastern Train Company when does my train arrive.He just waved his hand towards the right platform and murmured that it should stop there.20:05 and I am still waiting.I see people running towards Platform 1 as there was a train. I thought:"Why are they all running?Is it my train after all?". I stood up and asked him again as he was standing next to a bench with a bored face."Sir, is this my train on the left?".He nodded and said yes with no emotion. So, there I am running like crazy to another platform with hope to get on the train at time and cursing the guy for his laziness and irresponsibility, meanwhile a person who works for transport company is not caring about passengers.I was almost late for my train that takes me 45 min to get home. It might seem as nothing special, but small details like this make a difference. It made a huge difference to me that day. After this, I decided that no matter how I am annoyed at work, it will not harm me to be even more nicer and try harder at work when not feeling like it. I am responsible for my own wellbeing and I can bring happiness and kindness to every customer. I can make their day nicer by just complimenting or offering service I have never offered before. Seth calls such emotional labour as a gift. Don’t wait for reciprocity, but I can say for sure you will receive it some way or the other. It works.

Y O U H A V E T H E P O W E R O F G I F T I N G

Yesterday, I decided to implement an emotional gift. I sat at a restaurant on my own enjoying my little lunch at a Venetian restaurant ‘‘Polpo’’ in Sloane Square,London. I love exploring new places and it was a nice weather for a nice lunch outside. I am not scared to eat on my own and I sat. To my surprise, there were a lot of people of their own and I liked it. Its nice sometimes to have time to yourself. The weather who was serving me was really nice. After a finished my meal, I stacked my plates together neatly so it is easier for him to collect. He thanked me by saying: ‘’It’s very kind of you.’’ I smiled. Its a nice feeling when you appreciate other jobs. For him, it might be another day at work and I wanted to be a person who could have made him feel better. I was a waitress myself and I know the job. When he brought over my bill, I saw a service charge at the bottom. I decided to leave more. I know how nice it is when customers leave more that is required. He repeated the same phrase: ‘’It’s very kind of you. Thank you.’’ I could see it has made his day and it has made mine. I didn’t gain any money, but I gained emotional pleasure from pleasuring someone else. I felt like a linchpin. I am learning,Seth.

O N T H E B O O K I T S E L F/ C O N T E N T S/L A Y O U T

Seth made it easy for us. It is readable and full of modern examples by or influencers such as Bob Dylan, Elizabeth Gilbert, Steve Jobs and just ordinary people who are on the way of becoming great linchpins. He mentioned pilots, factory workers, his friends and family. And Seth himself. And I can mention more people like J.K.Rowling who published Harry Potter after 13th rejection.

INTRODUCTION:HOW WE GOT HERE?

BECOMING THE LINCHPIN

IS IT POSSIBLE TO HARD WORK IN A CUBICLE?

THE RESISTANCE (Why can’t we do it or what stops us?)

THE POWERFUL CULTURE OF GIFTS

THERE IS NO MAP

MAKING THE CHOICE

THE CULTURE OF CONNECTION

THE SEVEN ABILITIES OF A LINCHPIN

WHEN IT DOESN’T WORK

SUMMARY

This book has also recently influenced me at a job interview and it worked.I felt myself more than before. It was the best interview I had ever had. I got the job.At your next job interview, make sure to read it beforehand for inspiration. Everyone need linchpins in their workplace. If you cant yet be great at your own thing, be great at your job.It doesn’t cost. But is will make you cost more on the job market. And if you are not valued, don’t be afraid to leave. You don’t want to work where your are not being seen. Spend time on companies that will see.

Grab it here now!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Linchpin-Indispensable-career-create-remarkable/dp/0749953357/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1499197285&sr=1-1&keywords=linchpin

#linchpin #sethgodin #bookreview #shproject #stephaniegaluzo

0 notes

shprojectphotography · 7 years

Photo

Hever Castle June 2017

#june #summer #lookbook #fashion

0 notes

shprojectphotography · 7 years

Text

‘‘The ideological message has changed.Where once it was, ‘Never mind what work you do , so long as you get paid at the end of the week’, it is now,’Never mind what you’re paid, so long as you have a job.’In other words, be prepared to make any and every concession, to suffer humiliation or subjugation, to face competition and betrayal to get or keep a job, since ‘those who lose their jobs lose everything.’’-Andre Gorz,’‘Reclaiming Work:Beyond the Wage-Based Society’‘,1999,p.56.

Along the lines of a chapter on ‘’The Lost Magic of Work’’ written by Andre Gorz almost 20 years ago, I would like to base my inner discussion on the job industry today. Hello to those who occasionally or accidentally enters my blog. I write mainly for myself for a purpose of creating personal memories. I write here to show my work and express my passion for arts and fashion. I write what interests me and what makes me want to write here. Today, at 12am on the first day of Summer,1st of June, I will be writing about my dream job, my thoughts on the life of work and my personal ‘’workography’’.

I began to understand how Capitalist regimes operate at the age of 17. I got introduced to the life of a worker who has responsibilities, basic pay and no days off. I started off my ‘’career’’ as a bartender in my uncle’s pub, The Prince Albert. I was excited. Although, as time passed, my excitement turned into exhaustion and forming a bad relationship with my family. That year, 2013 going into 2014 has brought a lot of pleasant surprises to me. I met the love of my life and he moved over to life with me in UK. We both were employed by my uncle.It was our chance to get a taste of real life.And it was not tasty...After going through a stressful summer 2014 of work before the beginning of my first year at Goldsmiths University I have already found myself in a critical position. Starting a job does not only mean having responsibilities and extra money, it also means growing internally and developing fears. After quitting my bar job, I began working for Jamie Oliver. Starting to work as a waitress and earning good tips was great for a while. I learned a lot, I met a lot of people and began to form my own views on life. I looked ad people and asked myself ‘’What is each of them doing here and is this a dream job for them?’’ The again, I felt that I have to grow further. I left Jamie’s Italian after 1 year and a half. During the time there I was volunteering and interning as a gallery assistant at Constance Howard, as part of my University Placement and learning about visual merchandising at Margaret Howell brand in London (mentioned earlier in my blog last summer 2016).Volunteering at Constance Gallery was more of an independent project work ,rather than a learning curve. One month spent of working in an archive( more talking then working really) and being boring, but a line on CV which makes me stand out.I was also taken on by London Craft Week 2016 team and them rejected by them a day after I worked there for a day sorting out their emails and event at Google (very, very boring that was) with an excuse that my experience has not met their expectations. The email stated that they have found a better volunteer. Yes, a free worker who is not getting paid for their ‘’rich experience’’. I understand when someone finds a better employee, but not a volunteer!? Then, London was and continues to be my desired destination where I am searching for a job of my life. I like to hustle,I am active and excessively vain. I believe it is my great asset.I am Capricorn and I am proud of it. Of course, from having a taste of hospitality field and working in a franchise restaurant business I wanted more. So I searched and continue to search. Later, I got taken as an auction assistant at MacDougall’s Auction House in London. MacDougall’s Fine Art Auctions stands along the lines of powerful Sotheby’s, Christine’s and Bonhams, and specialises primarily in Russian art. Thanks for my Russian background and my best Russian friend, I got a placement there for a month on a very low intern wage. But I was over on the moon. I thought now my CV valued something!But wasn’t as I expected (again!). I met a lot of good and bad people there. I met directors, lawyers, bankers and others who circulate in within the elite group. I hosted events and poured Champagne into people’s glasses who earn millions. I was doing the dirty job,I guess which at the time seemed very upsetting.Today I look at it as experience. Well, they got to if they buy art at the auctions....The processes behind the auction itself opened my eyes as well. Don’t get me wrong, I am an art historian(don’t laugh), but paying 500,000 for Nicholas Roerich painting?Errm, no! Maybe I just don’t know what rich people are up to those days...but I want to be amongst them.The good ones of course..

So there is 6 work placements (not including a work experience during school at the age of 15 and other volunteering such as blog writing and an interview for Mary Katrantzou fashion brand for free of course ),of them which 3 of them payed, 1 underpaid, and 2 purely free labour. And I feel like a 50 year old ready to retire in 10 years and it’s just the beginning...So here I am, 21 now, almost graduated and working for a worldwide fashion brand Hugo Boss as a brand specialist. I like dressing people and I am a visual person, although retail is not my niche for sure. I know every business has their targets to meet, but how business pressure people these days is not healthy.And yes, I might be over reacting and stressing out too much, but this is so far the most challenging job I had and actually, I learned to like it. I meet people who have money and a desired lifestyle. I work at Canary Wharf which is a business centre in London and that was my choice. I travel to work around 1,15 hour just to be in London and it worth the sacrifice. People might look at me like crazy for communing so far from Kent bud I don’t care. But still, I wish I had more money... And this is everyones problem and I don’t want it to be this way. I catch myself thinking: I am looking or a job that pays well and that’s it? I mean, can it be the case of liking the job and salary or is it one way or another?I have came to a conclusion that never mind what work you do, what counts is having a job. I feel valuable when I have a job and is this a right approach?Such ideological message is essential for a wage-based society, where not having a job equals uselessness. But why is it that every time I get a job my expectations are not me?Is it me who strives towards non-existent employment place?I am annoyed that everything that I like is not payed.How am I supposed to provide for myself financially if I am not getting payed?But I have belief.I want to achieve. Belief that I will either start my own business and learn to love the job I do. The funny thing is, even University for a 27,000 grand is not guaranteeing me anything.It is another experience. I feel angry at those who don’t have a plan and rather study and spend more on a Master’s. What do there freelance artists from my course are going to do with their life’s when Im here stressing about and finding ways of living a dream?

#work #thoughtsonlife

0 notes

shprojectphotography · 7 years

Text

An academic piece inspired by an exhibition held at Victoria & Albert Museum Shoes:Pain and Pleasure

The Powerful Mistress

by Stephanie Houghton

Fashion. Let us dwell on this fleeting phenomenon full of ambiguities, impermanence,and mockery. Some argue that fashion is the product and the source of social inequality and elitism, the other, on the contrary, that it is the result and a factor of social equality and democracy. Some insist that its existence is detrimental to art, others proclaim it being a form of art itself. These and many more existing judgments about fashion often not only differ amongst themselves but also directly contradict each other forming a dialectical relationship. Fashion seems to take both sides of the evil and the good, thus remaining a cultural vector of status, spectacle, and beauty. In order for us to understand why does this term exist as a contradiction, we should turn our attention to German Romanticist and a Marxist interpreter and a philosopher, Walter Benjamin. He actuates the concept of the dialectical image in his collection of thoughts in the‘’Arcades Project’’, where we meet with the binaries of fashion and their modus operandi1 in cultural and political spheres.Thoughts devoted to fashion are scattered throughout the volume, hidden away in complex notes on other thinkers, fragmented and inconsistent, reciprocally to fashion itself.Perhaps this deliberate abyss which was created by the absence of concreteness in his writing only achieves a surrealistic effect on the unfinished concept of fashion. In the light of Benjamin, this paper will draw attention to the figure of Madame de Pompadour and the triumph of her seemingly petite, nevertheless revolutionary pair of shoes.

Figure 1. François Boucher, Madame de Pompadour, 1756, Munich, Alte Pinakophek, (photo: Kunstdia- Archive ARTOTHEK, D-Peissenberg), oil on canvas.

Figure 2. Close up of Boucher’s portrait of Madame de Pompadour heels

François Boucher, the father of decorative allegories and pastoral paintings, was an artist whom Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson admired and was inspired by. This particular portrait of her displaying the prosperity of her social position acts as what Benjamin defines as ‘’dialectics of a standstill’’. In his Convolute N: On the Theory of Knowledge, Theory of Progress, he writes: ‘’It's not what is past casts its light on what is present or what is present casts its light on what is past; rather, image is that wherein what has been come together in a flash with the now to form a constellation’’. This painting can be seen as an example of subject and object merging together. Similarly to the function of a photographic image, it preserves the past for the present. In Benjamin’s terms, the image has a role. It acts as a tool of confrontation and its source is history, which crystallizes force that is originally embedded in this painting. For Benjamin, time was a mysterious phenomenon which enclosed the dialectical relationship between the past and present. Walter Benjamin’s concept of time is gifted with autonomy and transitory power. This painting exists as a testimony of past, and its aim is to remind us of it. Fashion operates in the same sphere. Fashion, as we know it, has an ability to enter into any historical epoch and dictate its presence, so is the image. This painting as a historical object in which this act of knowledge, in particular, Pompadour’s shoes, which seem to enter our visionary field deliberately, demonstrates this presence of the past performed in the now. By looking at this painting of the past, Pompadour’s petite feet peek out from her exuberantly decorated dress almost breaking the bindings of time to signal their legibility in the present. This work of art operates as a ‘‘tiger’s leap into the past’’, seemingly bestowed with tranquillity, but at the same time dangerous in action. The tilt of her shoe exists as an open conversation of fashion in the eighteenth century.

The mood and the lighting of the painting appear dimmed, and most importantly of all, private. It seems that in this certain moment Pompadour is having the time away from the formal rituals of the court where she is constantly on display. Her dress and surroundings demonstrate her taste and status. From her writing feather and ink, sketches on paper to a wide collection of books from the ones stored in the cupboard behind and the one in her hand, every detail is considered to indicate her intellectual and artistic achievement. One can say that the appearance of flowers remind us of her fragile femininity which she possesses as a woman. Portraits of Madame de Pompadour by Boucher tend to achieve a celebratory effect on her prestige education and knowledge, proclaiming her as a ‘‘femme savante’’, a woman of Enlightenment era. From the moment she appeared at court, Madame de Pompadour used her wit, intelligence and diplomacy to seduce and captivate King XV.6 From 1756 to this day, this portrait displays women’s capability of knowledge in political and economic spheres, which back in those days were governed by patriarchal male groups. The way Madame de Pompadour positions herself in this portrait signals for her personal achievements as a powerful mistress of King Louis XV. Perhaps her importance in the history of female heel formation begins with this painting.

The act of wearing heels in eighteenth-century France came to signify wealth and status as the term ‘well-heeled’7 indicates. Historically, heels as a formal invention came to reign with King Louis XIV in early 1700’s. It was recorded in historical papers that ‘’rigid court protocol established that only the King and his court could wear red heels in France’’.In this historical light, heels were representatives of status and power of the French Court. The fact that the height of the heel was always changing in order to meet the whims of royal representative’s shows that fashion back in those times was drastically fluctuating and was following the means of economy. In this sense, the operation of eighteenth-century fashion circulates within the ‘’arena where the ruling class gives the commands’’. In Benjamin’s theory, fashion in the leading classes operates by the means of dominating the lower classes. For instance, the upper class will increase the height of their heel once the lower class has adapted it. However, Pompadour did not come from a privileged background, and the possibility of her dictating fashion entirely depended on her gaining a socially respectable position. In this certain moment and year to which this portrait brings us back to, Pompadour possesses a high value in French society. She uses her achievements to manipulate her lover King XV and the laws of fashion. In this light of defining the attitude of fashion, one can see that it operates within the frame of certain class and gender. In Pompadour’s case, it operates within this picture frame, but at the same time within the gulf of time, in which this painting can flash up and disappear without rules.

Relying on the functions of the social classes based on the Marxist theory, Benjamin shows a great concern with Capitalism and its influences on fashion. With the rise of Capitalism and commodity fetishism, ‘’fashion has opened the business of dialectical exchange between woman and ware-between carnal pleasure and the corpse’’.Capitalism kills, robs, impoverishes and creates colossal richness and beauty. It settles in the people that feeling of longing for that form of life and the opportunities that will forever remain unavailable. It produces not only the objects but the images and dreams of fashion. Within the capitalist world, the victory is achieved by the inorganic over organic. The transformational energy of fashion and its constant craving for recycling of old styles and the rapidity with which fashion comes and goes resembles with death. Fashion changes with such speed that objects lose their significance and forever remain as historical corpses of fashion. They are gifted with life once they are fashionable and when they are devoid of style and no longer fashionable, they remain as reminders of the past. Benjamin’s thought on fashion having a dialectical relationship with the organic and the inorganic, opens up a different perspective on Pompadour’s heels. This particular pair with enhanced oriental decoration raised tips and fastened buckles, has lost its relevance in modern fashion. However, the concept of the heel remains unchanged. Certain heel styles come and go, but the heel is still a heel with an evocative function. It continues to be a tool of height enhancement, professionalism, confidence, sexuality and power.

If wearing Pompadour’s heels today equates to wearing a phantasmagorical dream, what does it mean to be a fashion collector? Eighteen years ago with the rise of Sex and the City series, the New York inhabitants, and perhaps all women representatives in general, began to regard shoes as something holy. Sex and the City series larger contributed to Manolo Blahnik shoes became an iconic phenomenon. Sarah Jessica Parker slumbers in every woman of today. Indeed, there are events in a woman’s life that cannot be possible without heels. It is inconceivable to get married without Manolo Blahnik and walk down the red carpet without wearing Jimmy Choo. It is no mistake that on the shoe Olympus sits Madame de Pompadour’s heels. The act of collecting wearable objects as commodities, in particular, heels, turn shoes into the objects of fetish and desire. Madame de Pompadour’s little shoes have a certain charm to them. Their miniature quality appears desirous for a fashion collector. Only recently, Victoria and Albert Museum has included Madame de Pompadour’s shoes in the exhibition Shoes: Pain and Pleasure as a collectable object. Does heels have a true function or are they bestowed with something more than a desire to own? What is this true fascination with collecting commodities? If we are to turn to Benjamin, he regarded the act of collecting as a wish of the exhibitionist to possess value and at the same time taking away that value from the object as it becomes objectified. He writes: ‘’ And for the true collector, every single thing in this system becomes an encyclopaedia of all knowledge of the epoch, the landscape, the industry, and the owner from which it comes. It is the deepest enchantment of the collector to enclose the particular item within a magic circle, where, as the last shudder runs through it (the shudder of being acquires), it turns to stone.''The more rare and expensive the fashionable object appears, the more collectable and desired it is. This fascination with ownership can be compared to sexual desire, which also demands immediate possession and seeks pleasure in owning the object. To collect is to complete the object’s purpose. But can it be complete if the wearer does not give life to it by wearing? The dialectical tension in collecting commodities is seen in objects becoming the objects of display, but at the same time hidden with a fetish. Collecting Pompadour's shoes as a material thing carry more than the wish to have. It is no accident, that her feet, as the most modest and least favoured part of the human body, are bestowed with a revolutionary spirit. The feet as the opposite pole of the figure evolved much slower than the upper body. Pompadour, back in her days, was breaking the rules of modesty and morality by showing off her feet. As Philippe Perrot wrote: ‘’here we are at the heart of all male fixations, the spark that inflamed their desires, the anchor of all their fantasies: the foot. Ever since it was completely hidden by dresses, it became the object of a universal, ardent, and fanatical cult.’’By performing such immoral act for a woman of good behavior, Pompadour is reaching out to other women who follow fashion. Her provocativeness achieves the power of seduction. She appears dangerous, forbidden and desirous. As a court lady, she has the power to dictate her rules. Regardless of Madame de Pompadour being addressed as a mistress of King Louis XV, she has owned her place in the history of Western dress. And her shoes can claim to be a part of her revolutionary character.

Heel, beside their feminine character, have been adopted by both genders. Even today, they continue to be seen as unisex. However, heels tend to represent femininity more than masculinity, even though historically, heels were a male invention. This dialectical concept between gender specificity in fashion echoes Elizabeth Wilson text on transgender fashion,where she states that: ‘’fashion permits us to flirt with transvestitism, precisely to divest it of all its danger and power.’’In Benjamin’s sense, the so known cross-dressing is a result of modernity. Modern fashion, for Benjamin, ‘’consists only in extremes’’. It perverts nature and morality, it cannot remain neutral, as it to commit to a particular tempo in order to be modern to meet those extremes. Heels, no longer gender-specific, have lost their ‘aura’.Walter Benjamin’s description of the aura surrounding a photograph in his inspirational essay on ‘’The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’’, notes that aura stands for the particular, ‘’the one-of-a-kind value of the ‘genuine’ work of art has its underpinnings in theritual in which it had its original, initial and utility value’’. And Benjamin would agree, that the aura surrounding Pompadour’s shoes in this picture makes this pair of shoes very unique and authentic. However, in the modern world this authenticity in fashion gives way to fleeting tendencies. A modernist has to commit to the ephemeral, to the progressive. In other words, the stiletto heels which we know today would not exist in fashion if they were tied up to a certain historical time, space or the figure of Pompadour. Fashion continues to make copies and reproductions, and their functioning in society makes the existence of the original optional. The dialectical image, thereby, can be described as the image of the past, which translates the desires of the past generations into the present. Can we consider Madame de Pompadour’s heels as the origin of the history of the heel or is it just another replica of the famous heel that we know today?

References:

Christopher Breward and Caroline Evans, Fashion and Modernity, (Oxford: Berg, 2005).

Elise Goodman, The Portraits of Madame de Pompadour: Celebrating the Femme Savante, (California: University of California Press, 2000).

Elizabeth Wilson, “Gender and Identity.” In Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity, revised and updated edition, (London: I.B. Tauris, 2003),

Katherine Lester and Bess Viola Oerke, Accessories of Dress: An Illustrated Encyclopaedia, (New York: Dover Publications, 2004).

Madeleine Delpierre, Dress in France in the Eighteenth Century, trans., Caroline Beamish, (New Heaven & London: Yale University, 1997).

Margo DeMello, Feet and Footwear: A Cultural Encyclopaedia, (United States of America: Greenwood Press, 2009).

Nancy Milford, Madame de Pompadour, (London: Vintage, 2011). Philippe Perrot, Fashioning the Bourgeoisie: A History of Clothing in the Nineteenth

Century, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994). Ulrich Lechmann, Tigersprung: Fashion in Modernity, (United States of America:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000).

Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project, (United States: President and Fellows of Harvard College, 1999).

Walter Benjamin, trans. Edmund Jephcott, Selected Writings: 1938-1940, (Cambridge and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2003).

Academic Papers and Dissertations:

Alexia Bretas, “Eternal Return of the New-The Aesthetics of Fashion in Walter Benjamin’’ (PhD diss., Universidade Estadual de Compinas, Proceedings of the European Society for Aesthetics,vol.5, 2013).

Journal Articles: Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, "A Woman’s Worth. Madame de Pompadour and the Arts," In Art in

America, No. 4, )April 2003),100-107. Georg Simmel, ‘’Fashion’’, American Journal of Sociology No. 62 (May, 1957), p. 541-558.

Peter Wollen, ‘’The Concept of Fashion in The Arcades Project’’ In boundary 2, 30, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 131-42.

Online Journals:

Elise Goodman-Soellner, ‘’Madame de Pompadour at Her Toilette’’, Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, Vol. 17, No. 1 (1987), 41-58, accessed December,2015, doi: 10.2307/3780687.

Online Source: ‘’Why did men stop wearing high heels?’’, last modified 25 January 2013,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21151350. Film: Jeanne Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, film, Directed by Robin Davis: (France, 2006).

#arthistory

0 notes

shprojectphotography · 7 years

Text

ANOTHER ADVENTURE POST

‘’All of the books, the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport.’’

#tenerife #canaryislands #adventure #trip #travelphotography #shproject

0 notes

shprojectphotography · 7 years

Text

Burberry Exhibition Review

Henry Moore: Inspiration & Process at Maker’s House. Burberry’s Exhibition is a celebration of a new February collection alongside the work and creative process of the iconic artist who inspired it: Henry Moore. The exhibition was held for a week, near Oxford Circus and next to Tottenham Court Station. The entry was free of charge, which has made the wish for visiting even more desireable. The concept of the exhibition was very similar to Chanel at Saatchi last year. Similarly to Chanel, every visitor received a free poster with a model wearing a Burberry coat. The poster reminded me of a nineteenth-century painting titled ‘’Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog’’ by David Frederich. As I entered the maker’s house, I have once again realized that the bond between art and fashion is very close. However, the exhibition for Burberry was more artistic, rather than glamorous. Many models and maquettes reminded me of Alexander McQueen designs and the exhibition held at V&A a few years ago.

Henry Moore’s sketches

Henry Moore’s Studio- A chance to take a photograph in the artist’s heaven.

Detail

Burberry 2017 Collection

#burberry #fashion #clothes #collection

0 notes

shprojectphotography · 7 years

Text

University of Cambridge: Репутация или Субъективность?

Пост из категории #академическиезаметки. Неделю назад я решительно настроилась съездить в Кембридж, дабы познать магию того что на протяжении многих лет считается высшем Британским образованием.После сегодняшнего дня, убедилась что эта навязчивая аура которая нависает над старинным институтом развеяна. Я, как требовательный и достаточно впечатлительный человек,ожидаю от всего и от всех большего и лучшего.В этом случае, как и в прочем большинстве случаев, меня посетили сомнения в грандиозности Кэмбриджа. Конечно я не кандидат наук и не инженер, но у меня сложилось такое вот впечатление…

Во-первых,стоит отметить сам город.Местность,сама по себе, напоминает место моего сегодняшнего обитания, что для меня является минусом. Возможно, есть прелесть в том чтобы жить рядом с Тюдорским замком и винтажными ларьками, но я отдамся предпочтению Лондона. Во-вторых, расположение кампусов.Они разбросаны направо и налево, хоть ползи.Я как неуверенный человек в том чем хочу заниматься после окончания Бакалавра конечно набегалась. Самих колледжов около тридцати, да-да, такое ощущение что мест для проживания намного больше чем самих студентов! Я конечно со своей беготней побывала только снаружи некоторых Викторианских зданий Кембриджского Университета.Но, не довелось побывать внутри общежитий, которые по-моему мнению выглядят как “дормитории” из книг о Гарри Поттере. В четвертых- университет в общем ничуть не отличается от моего Голдсмифа, разве что в Кэмбридже до сих пор обитает дух аристократии и дворянства. И это хорошо! В пятых, для гуманитарных наук выбор не велик. Педагогический курс произвел на меня больше впечатления, чем магистр по истории искусств. Как бы мне не нравилось “классическое” искусство и дискуссии на философские темы вокруг работ художников, Кембридж предлагает только research based courses. Тоесть, 80% вашего времени вы проводите упершись носом в сборник мыслей Канта. Однако, стоит отметить, что postgraduate студенты формируют близкие отношения со своим преподавателем или супервайзером. Он же, помогает вам с выбором темам исследований. Такая же система существует и в Оксфорде.И да, если вы вдруг открыли к себе любовь к искусству-Кэмбридж берет только заурядных искусствоведов, на роль которых даже я не смею претендовать со своим бэкграундом в современной эстетике. Сегодня на семинаре удалось лицезреть как одного беднягу закончившего бакалавриат Философии предупредили что его знаний вполне может и не хватить. Конечно, искусствоведение в Кэмбридже это престиж пристижом, но извините меня, 8 лет угробить на изучение Французской готики в конце которых ты сможешь преподавать студентам в Университете, когда большинство, возмущаемся что на врача учиться 10 лет и это ужас как много, мы не задумываемся, что и чтобы педагогом стать потребуется не мало лет. Ну тут ты хотя бы квалифицированный врач!Короче, гуманитарий в Кембридже не вдохновляет. Может иным физикам и технарям повезло больше чем мне. В общем, из двух курсов- Art Education or History of Art я выбираю ничего.И вообще, кто дает гарантию что надпись “выпускник Кембриджа” со стажем дает тебе билет в миллионный рай. Эх,может в арт бизнесе повезет, если музейное дело и педагогика ну никак не колышет мою тонкую душу. Вперед к новым открытиям! И вообще, из сегодняшнего дня мне больше всего запомнился Итальянский фисташковый кофе и огромная факачча. Да,да, я снова о еде родной! Think Cambridge? Think Again!

#cambridge #university #openday #кембридж

0 notes

shprojectphotography · 8 years

Text

TRAVEL TO B A R C E L O N A

C A S A M I L A: LA PEDRERA

C A S A B A T T L O

M A G I C F O U N T A I N OF M O N T J U I C

G U E L L P A R K

G U E L L P A L A C E

S A G R A D A F A M I L I A

#barcelona #trip #2016 #travelblog #gaudi #art #architecture #artnouveau #style #photography #lifestyle #spain

5 notes · View notes

shprojectphotography · 8 years

Photo

Here I am wearing a LOVE MOSCHINO dress, a yellow rucksack with an alphabet and my favourite white and silver LOVE snickers/ espadrilles.

#fashion #summer #2016 #lookbook #shproject

0 notes

shprojectphotography · 8 years

Text

The Bingo Theory: Personal Moments

Why Mimi Ikonn and why The Bingo Theory

‘’It’s important to understand that we all have both masculine and feminine energy in us.’’

For the past few years I have been really into Mimi’s and Alex’s Ikonn channels on YouTube. I guess the reason for such attachment to this couple is that they put a lot of effort into their businesses and themselves. I could relate myself to Mimi, as she is a perfectionist and a bright soul. Their videos are high quality and full of interesting creative content. They love what they do and they don’t stop. It’s something that I am familiar with. However, I have purchased the book not because I am looking for a romance, but because I am looking for development.

See more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2yLchFXVlg and subscribe to Mimi’s Channel.

Personal reflection of The Bingo Theory

I will not be reviewing the book in general, although I have to say that it is for everyone and not just people who are looking for a healthy and happy partner for a serious relationship. Throughout the book, Mimi emphasises on the fact that we, humans, regardless of our gender, possess two energies: the feminine and the masculine. The feminine is that of emotional, sensitive, creative, spontaneous and passionate, and the masculine is that of straight forward, ambitious, goal-orientated and determined. The first question I have asked myself is who am I? Deep down, I relate myself to the Masculine Strenght Female, although I am not fully confident with my assumptions now that I have finished reading the book.I tend to stand between the both, as I believe I can be excessively emotional and restless, determined and hopeless.Although I am ambitious and hard-working, and I find that these qualities make who I am. Everyday my thoughts are inspired by the possibilities that the future career holds for me. I dream of being a boss or owning my own business. I consider myself as a leader, even though sometimes I lose this quality. I love creating. I have been photographing for more than four years now and I love fashion photography. I love creating compositions and styling photo shoots. My time in high school consisted of me working on my textiles and art projects even during lunchtimes. I was passionate to become a designer, even though creative fields is not really where Masculine Strenght people aim to be. However, I work for the sake of working and I loathe laziness. I rather do things with the best effort,or not bother doing it at all. My head is always thinking, but I am not sure if I can pinpoint myself as logical. I like to be organized and sure where i stand, although recently I have lost my confidence a little bit and that made me feel very vulnerable and uncomfortable. I am currently progressing through and Art History degree at Goldsmiths, University of London. I have changed my plans of becoming a designer as back the time I began to develop a relationship with my current boyfriend who I love very much. The beginning of this relationship has developed my Feminine Energy. Moving to England from Latvia in 2011 at the age of 14 have developed my masculine energy, and since I was born in January under a star sign Capricorn, I have a strong aura around me and, although it was very difficult to adapt to a new environment,I didn't give up and persuaded my dream of studying and living in London. At the age of 20 I am still trying to find myself and I think that after graduation I will develop new qualities in myself. Back to the book now. So since I couldn’t figure out what energy is my strength, I began to think: ‘’Well what energy is my partner then?’’ And I still can’t answer it! Is such confusion a sign that we a so-called Bingo or maybe we are heading towards being a Bingo? I find it that our relationship has been through different stages and it is still evolving because we work on each other with each other. It is true that Mimi said that it all starts from yourself. in relationship, we take turns, as are both of us happen to be Capricorns and we are naturally bossy. At first, I thought we are very similar, although now my opinion has changed. I like active lifestyle and aestheticl things,although even that I am into art, I am not patient at all and very competitive. I also get anxious and worried really easy. Whereas my partner is more relaxed,practical and laid back, although romantic, considerate and determined in providing successful financial stability to our union. So, what happens when we can’t relate to neither and both? Who are we then? Is that a good thing? If yes, such mixture in energies has been heavily influenced by me meeting my partner three years ago. I have definitely changed and grown since. Before, I wondered that it must be destined for us to meet as we are the same star sign, born in the same month and same year. I guess it is more than just astrological similarities. We are both willing to work on our relationship and nor of us are stubborn when it comes to saying sorry. when it comes to friends, my friendship circle is based on Feminine Strenght females and we are all different.At some point in the book Mimi mentioned that for Masculine people it is best to be around Feminine to balance. I could relate to that because there was the time when fashion did not interest me and I didn't really look after myself in my teens as I was chubby and inconsiderate about my look. Now, I appreciate my appearance and I love to dress up. One of my closest friend in youth has taught me that without even realising that she did. perhaps, the reason why I began to look after myself is, of course, the age I was at (a the time I was 16 and I wanted to be liked by others), but also the competitiveness which is in my genes. Not the best quality I should say as it introduces jealousy. This is something I am willing to improve in myself.

At last, before I conclude, I would like to emphasise on again on what Mimi accentuated in her book: the fact that is it through the nature of conditioning, life problems and circumstances that we develop one or the other energy more. I can’t agree more on that since I have experienced this development myself with moving to another country, haveing a relationship and getting a job. Life will keep doing that and we are the ones who must adapt to both of the sides to have a satisfied life. The book has proved that regardless of what whether masculinity of femininity is your strength, you have to be willing to learn. The book will teach you how to be a learned and accept the fact that you don't know it all. Mimi, if you happen to read this, I have achieved my hopes and aspirations. Do read it, my friends, as this book brings acceptance, opens up honesty within yourself and aims you to achieve balance. It is for every age and every occupation. The book is light and easily written, which makes it so valuable. I will be waiting for more books from you,Mimi. Please see my Instagram, see this blog and my photography work here and let me know what you think:

https://500px.com/stefanijagaluzo

https://www.instagram.com/stefanioflaneur/

Enjoy everyone!

Buy THE BINGO THEORY here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bingo-Theory-revolutionary-guide-relationships/dp/099546040X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467725276&sr=8-1&keywords=the+bingo+theory

Or here: http://www.thebingotheory.com/ :D

#bingotheory #mimiikonn #alexikonn #creative #competition #review #book #TheBingoTheory #life #relationships #energies #masculine #femenine #writing #creativity #vlogs #youtube #shproject

0 notes