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LESSER KNOWN WOMEN IN HISTORY: Edmonia Lewis

2/22/2019

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February is Black History Month and March is Women’s History Month. What better time to honor black women who have made important but lesser-acknowledged contributions in history?

HISTORY IS FICKLE
Since the beginning of history, women of every race and culture contributed an unbelievable amount of knowledge, discovery, and talent in every field resulting in the changing of technology, law, social development, and attitudes. Unfortunately, history is fickle, often immortalizing inconsequential events and minimizing some major events and people to the point where they are left out of history books and school curriculum. Not everyone – man or woman – with noteworthy accomplishments gets credit for those achievements, however remarkable and far-reaching they may be.

The names and accomplishments of many women such as Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Shirley Chisholm, are well recorded in history and certainly deserve the legacies they've earned, it's important to shine a light on some other black women whose names you might not know--but who also helped shape the future of our nation and our culture.


Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Photo Source: ttps://americanart.si.edu/artis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonia_Lewis 
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MARY EDMONIA LEWIS (1843-1907)
Edmonia Lewis was an American sculptor and the first woman of African-American and Native-American heritage to achieve international fame and recognition in the fine arts world. Her work embodies themes relating black and indigenous peoples in the Americas in Neoclassical-style sculpture.

NOTHING ABOUT EDMONIA LEWIS IS STRAIGHTFORWARD
“Nothing about Edmonia Lewis is straightforward,” writes Marilyn Richardson, the former curator of The Museum of Afro-American History and The African Meeting House on Beacon Hill in Boston, Massachusetts. Richardson has been researching Edmonia Lewis since the 1980s and is responsible for finding and recovering several of the Lewis’ lost works of art. Richards goes on to say that Lewis was a canny self-promoter who tweaked her story for her audience, and perpetuated the image of herself as a mysterious figure, making it nearly impossible for those studying her life after-the-fact, to sort out the real life story.

EARLY LIFE
Edmonia Lewis was reportedly born in 1843, possibly 1844, in Greenbush, New York, and is considered the first woman sculptor of African American and Native American heritage. She achieved international recognition and respect as a sculptor in the fine arts world, and yet many have never heard of her.

Her father was Afro-Haitian, a gentleman’s servant, and her mother, Catherine Mike Lewis of Mississauga Ojibwe and African-American heritage, was a weaver and craftswoman. At nine-years-old Edmonia and her older half-brother, Samuel, had been orphaned and went to live with their father’s two maternal aunts in Niagara Falls. During the four years she lived with them, Edmonia went by her Native-American name, Wildfire. Samuel became a barber and, in 1852, left for the west coast. He made arrangements to leave his sister with a family and provided for her care and education.


In 1856, Edmonia was enrolled at New York Central College, a Baptist abolitionist school in McGrawville, NY, where she met activists who influenced her life and career. At the age of fifteen (1859), she attended Oberlin Academy Preparatory School for the full three year course, before entering Oberlin College (1,000 students), one of the first U.S. institutions of higher-learning to admit women and people of different ethnicities.” She changed her name to Mary Edmonia and began to study art. She later said she and other female students were constantly subjected to race and gender discrimination.

THE ACUSATIONS
For the time she attended Oberlin College, she lived at Reverend Keep’s boarding house with other girls attending the college. In the winter of 1862, before going sleighing with two friends, she served the other girls some spiced wine. Later, they became ill, and the doctor speculated they had poison in their system. The two women recovered and nothing happened, but the news spread around town. While Edmonia was walking home alone, she was attacked, beaten, and left for dead. After that, the authorities arrested her for attempted murder.

Despite the fact that most of the testimony was against her, there was no evidence presented and no traces of poison had been found in the two girls bodies. The jury acquitted her, but the rest of her time at Oberlin was awful. A year later she was accused of stealing art supplies. Again there was no evidence, and she was acquitted, but was not allowed to register for her final courses and was essentially forced out of the school without being allowed to graduate.

With financial assistance from her brother, Edmonia moved to Boston in 1863, where abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison gave her letters of introduction to sculptors in the area. Eventually she met and studied under sculptor Edward Brackett who specialized in marble busts and had many affluent and influential abolitionist clients. She began to acquire a style of her own, inspired by and focusing on themes related to her own heritage.
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Apparently things didn’t go well between Lewis and Brackett and, in 1864, she opened her own studio in Boston, where she began sculpting portraits of well-known abolitionist, including John Brown and Colonel Robert Gould Shaw.
Robert Gould Shaw
Photo Source:
/sites.psu.edu/unspokenartists/GouldShaw

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The successful sale of copies and photographs of her bust of Robert Gould Shaw and the Brahmin colonel who died at Fort Wagner, along with continual financial help from her older stepbrother, Samuel, who had financed much of her three year stay in Boston, allowed Lewis to travel and study abroad. Her commissions financed her first trip to Europe.

WHEN IN ROME…
In 1866 Mary Edmonia finally settled in Rome, joining a community of American sculptors there who had been drawn to Rome by the availability of fine white marble and the skills of Italian stone carvers, often hired to transfer a sculptor’s design from a plaster model to finished marble. There she decided to work in marble in the neoclassic style, but was unique because she rarely employed Italian carvers and finished her own work.

Rome offered Edmonia more social, spiritual, and artistic freedom than she’d had in the United States. Being a Catholic, her experience in Rome also allowed her to be closer spiritually to her faith. If she had remained in the U.S., she would have been dependent on abolitionist patronage which restricted her style and imagination. Working in Italy allowed her to make her own in the international art world, and follow her own creativity and themes. She began sculpting in marble, within the neoclassical parameters, but focusing on naturalism.

Hiawatha (1868)                                                              Minnehaha (1868)                                                                 Marriage of Hiawatha and Minnehaha
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonia_Lewis_Hiawatha            en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonia_Lewis_Miinnehaha               mmfa.org/LewisHiawathaMarriage

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When Longfellow visited Rome in the late 1860s, Lewis drew sketches of him from a distance. Longfellow’s brother caught wind of the subterfuge, stopped by her studio and was impressed by the bust she was creating from her sketches. Henry himself then visited, pronounced the piece a fine likeness, and sat for the completion of the marble portrait. Soon after, it was acquired by Harvard College, where Longfellow had taught for many years.
 Statue of Hypeia 1870                                                                                                                                      Bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Rome, 1868–1871
 
mountauburn.org/statue-of-hygeia                                                                            Photo source: http://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/article.cfm?request=191
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The statue of Hygeia, commissioned in 1870 by Dr. Harriot Kezia Hunt for her grave at Mount Auburn Cemetery, is the only known work of funerary art by Edmonia Lewis in a cemetery. As such, the statue of Hygeia is identified as one of the Cemetery’s most significant fine arts monuments. It is featured on the Cemetery’s public maps and is highlighted on the popular African American Heritage Trail Guide to Mount Auburn.

Edmonia Lewis remained in Rome for most of her life. Her sculptures sold for thousands of dollars, and she had commissions from wealthy patrons on both sides of the Atlantic. One of the highlights of her career occurred when the United States celebrated its centennial in Philadelphia in 1876. She was the only black artist invited to submit work.

Her 3,000 pound sculpture, The Death of Cleopatra, depicts the queen in the throes of death after allowing herself to be bitten by a poisonous asp. It is sculpted in commanding realism. Artist J. S. Ingraham wrote that Lewis’ Cleopatra was "the most remarkable piece of sculpture in the American section" of the Exposition.

According to Wikipedia, “Much of the viewing public was shocked by Lewis's frank portrayal of death, but the statue drew thousands of viewers. Cleopatra was considered a woman of both sensuous beauty and demonic power. Her self-annihilation has been portrayed numerously in art as well as literature and cinema. In The Death of Cleopatra, Edmonia Lewis added an innovative flair by portraying the Egyptian queen in a disheveled and inelegant manner, a departure from the Victorian approach of representing death.”

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Death of Cleopatra, marble, 1876, collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Photo Sources:
http://vickiemartin.net/the-spirit-of-edmonia-lewis and  https://www.pinterest.com/hcrownfi/edmonia-lewis/?lp=true

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The Old Arrow Maker - modeled 1866,        Hagar - 1874                                                                                                                Night -                                        
carved 1872 marble - Photo source:              Photo Source: 
artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/                                  Photo source:
www.pinterest.com/22686889995
artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/                ▼ Smithsonian Collection               Forever Free    ▼                               ▼ Smithsonian Collection          ▼ Smithsonian Collection                                                                                       Photo Source: artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/  
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After the fair, the statue was moved to the 1878 Chicago Interstate Exposition. It was purchased by a gambler by the name of "Blind John" Condon to mark the grave of a Racehorse named "Cleopatra". The statue stood in front of the grandstand of his Harlem race track in the Chicago suburb of Forest Park for nearly one hundred years until the land was bought by the U.S. Postal Service. The sculpture was moved to a construction storage yard where it suffered extensive damage. A dentist in Forest Park, also a member of the Forest Park Historical Society, acquired the sculpture and held it in private storage at the Forest Park Mall until it was discovered there by Marilyn Richards while working on Lewis’ biography. Finally it came into the ownership of the Forest Park Historical Society who donated it to the Smithsonian American Art Museum where it is displayed today.

MYSTERIOUS TO THE END
As neoclassicism began to lose its popularity in the late 1880s, so did the Lewis’ artwork. She continued sculpting in marble, predominantly for Roman Catholic patrons.

By 1901 she had moved to the Hammersmith area of London and the remainder of her life is largely unknown. She never married and had no children, but kept in contact with her brother Samuel. Unfortunately, their letters are lost.
No one, including the art world, made note when she passed away, and for a long time no one really knew what had happened to her until Marilyn Richardson pinned it down doing her research. In September 1907, Edmonia Lewis died as Mary Lewis (about 63), of chronic Bright’s disease, and was buried in St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in London.

Grave of Edmonia Lewis after restoration through donations
Photo Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonia_Lewis
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Edmonia Lewis was a brilliant sculptor. She made wise choices that allowed her to work with greater freedom of expression. She was recognized and respected internationally in the world of fine art and apparently made enough money to live comfortably. Still, I felt very sad for her after reading her biographies.

I suppose that’s because, in spite of everything, she still had to make her work appealing to white European buyers. Lewis told the New York Times in 1878, she found the intense focus on her race frustrating. “I was practically driven to Rome, in order to obtain the opportunities for art culture, and to find a social atmosphere where I was not constantly reminded of my color. The land of liberty had no room for a colored sculptor.” □

Sources:

https://americanart.si.edu/artist/edmonia-lewis-2914
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/25/obituaries/overlooked-edmonia-lewis-sculptor.html
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-success-edmonia-lewis-black-sculptor-19th-century-america
https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/gQJi3NKm3VagLg
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edmonia-Lewis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonia_Lewis
http://listverse.com/2018/09/08/10-incredible-women-forgotten-by-history/
http://www.askart.com/artist/Edmonia_Lewis/19852/Edmonia_Lewis.aspx
https://www.edmonialewis.com/blog.htm
http://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/article.cfm?request=191
http://www.artnet.c/artiomsts/edmonia-lewis/minnehaha-WcAu_ZK504QcSEliXoQOYg2
https://mountauburn.org/aaht-hygeia/
http://fineartsouth.com/pages/projects/exhibitionspayoff/24/593
http://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/article.cfm?request=191
https://www.edmonialewis.com/blog.htm
http://library.stmarytx.edu/ylr/shipley.htm
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/25/obituaries/overlooked-edmonia-lewis-sculptor.htmlhttps://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-success-edmonia-lewis-black-sculptor-19th-century-america
https://tjsthings.com/2006/02/17/edmonia-lewis/
http://vickiemartin.net/the-spirit-of-edmonia-lewis/
 
 





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the Carnival of Venice

2/15/2019

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When someone mentions Mardi Gras or Carnival or Fat Tuesday many of us think immediately of either Rio de Janeiro or New Orleans, but I always remember the Carnival of Venice as the epitome of Shrove Tuesday celebrations. After all, as a major celebration it’s older ( and lasts longer) than either of the others, although being a religious holiday -- the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lenten season -- has been celebrated throughout the Christian world for a long time, and there is some dispute about its origins.
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                  Venice, Italy                                        Rio de Janiero, Brazil                             New Orleans, USA
   It's all about masks & costumes                  It's all about bare skin & dancing                 It's all about drinking & music
 
PhotoSource:www.where-venice.com/carnevale-venice          PhotoSource:allthatsinteresting.com/rio                  PhotoSource:www.cleveland.com/nation/mardi_gras

ORIGINS
Like many seasonal celebrations and religious holidays, Carnival likely has its roots in pre-Christian traditions based on the seasons. Some believe the festival represented the few days added to the lunar calendar to make it coincide with the solar calendar; since these days were outside the calendar, rules and customs were not obeyed. Others see it as a late-winter celebration designed to welcome the coming spring. As early as the middle of the second century, the Romans observed a fast of forty Days, which was preceded by a brief season of feasting, costumes and merrymaking.
In fact, both the Greek and Roman civilizations had periods of during which the average citizens were allowed to take liberties denied them for most of the year.

Wearing masks, poor people were allowed to make fun of the rich without being punished. The Romans had a saying ‘semel in anno licet insanire’ (‘once every year it is legitimate to go crazy’), while according to an Italian proverb ‘a Carnevale ogni scherzo vale’ (‘at Carnival anything goes!’).
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In the locations where the Christian religion became predominant, the Roman festival was transformed into the last period of merrymaking prior to Lent, which is the period of repentance before Easter. Carnival is celebrated in all Catholic countries, in some form or other, and it has retained the original custom of wearing masks, with the addition, over time, of numerous other rituals.
Photo source: https://www.planeteu.com/events/carnival-venice/
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A VICTORY CELEBRATION GOES CARNIVAL
By the eighteenth century the wearing of masks by Venetians continued for six months of the year as the original religious association and significance with carnival diminished. On October 17th, 1797 (26 Vendémiaire, Year VI of the French Republic) Venice became part of the Austrian-held Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia when Napoleon signed the Treaty of Campo Formio. Under the Emperor of Austria, Francis II, the festival was outlawed entirely in 1797 and the use of masks became strictly forbidden.

TRADITIONAL MASKS
Venice (and many Italian cities) in the Middle Ages and Renaissance had a long tradition of mask-wearing among the nobility while engaging in activities of a questionable nature -- gambling, drinking, not to mention romantic and sexual rendezvous. Their activities were so outrageous that laws were passed to restrict the wearing of masks to certain times of year. One of those times was Carnival.

Masks were also worn by the lower classes to allow them to mix unfettered with the aristocrats in such situations. The mask, after all, was a great equalizer in a social setting. This was especially common in Carnival, with its traditions of role reversal and celebration of the fool. Some of those typical costumes include the following:

▼Photo source: blog.privateislandparty.com/carnival-masks/

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● Moretta
This is a traditional mask, worn only by women (only by patrician women in the 18th century), a black oval mask that is held in place not with a band or string, but by a button on the inside of the mask that is held clenched between the teeth of the wearer. The Moretta mask experienced a brief surge of popularity before disappearing almost entirely by 1760.

▼Photo source: https://www.planeteu.com/events/carnival-venice/ 

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● Columbina
Columbina mask was an option for those less concerned with preserving anonymity. A half-face mask often held to one’s face by means of an attached stick, the Columbina allowed the wearer to reveal their identity at will. This mask supposedly originated when a vain and beautiful Venetian actress, playing the part of the columbina (a servant girl) in Commedia dell’arte, insisted on being given a mask that didn’t entirely obscure her lovely face. True or not, there are no historic paintings depicting its use.

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▼ Photo by Marco Secchi/Getty Images
www.cnn.com/travel/mysterious-masks

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​● Medico de Apeste
This is a costume based on the clothing plague doctors wore in the 17th century to protect them from diseases. The “costume” consisted of an ankle length overcoat and a mask with a beak like a bird, often filled with sweet or strong smelling substances (such as lavender), gloves, boots, a wide-brimmed hat and an outer garment.
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The mask had glass openings in the eyes and a curved beak shaped like that of a bird with straps that held the beak in front of the doctor's nose.[3] The mask had two small nose holes and was a type of respirator containg aromatic items. The beak held dried flowers and herbs or a vinegar sponge. All this was intended to keep away bad odors called miasma, which were believed to be the principal causes of diseases.
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▼Photo by Frank Kovalchek from Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Couple in love at the 2010 Carnevale in Venice (IMG_9534a)
 Photo source: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Venice

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●Volto Larva
The volto mask is considered the most typical Venetian mask. Often stark white or gilded, it covers the entire face. Owing to the fact it's light weight and rather creepy, the volto is also known as the ghost mask.



▼Photo source: https://www.planeteu.com/events/carnival-venice/​

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● Bauta
This mask is the whole face, with a stubborn chin line, no mouth, and lots of "gilding". One may find masks sold as Bautas that cover only the upper part of the face from the forehead to the nose and upper cheeks, thereby concealing identity but enabling the wearer to talk and eat or drink easily. It tends to be the main type of mask worn during the Carnival.
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The origin of Bauta is lost in time. The use of this mask, by men and women, has intensified since the eighteenth century and continued into modern Carnival. The Venice Bauta can be divided into: the Bauta mask or Larva (Latin: 'ghost' or 'mask'), a simple mask that hides the face but allows for eating and drinking, and the Bauta costume, a Venice Carnival dress including a mantle, or cloak, dark in color, a black three-cornered hat and the Larva. Among the different Venice Carnival outfits, the Bauta has always had a leading role. Used often in theater and festivals, the Venetian Bauta was also worn in daily life, to court or be courted in mutual anonymity.

REBIRTH

After a long absence of 180 years, including being banned by Mussolini, the Italian government in 1979 decided to bring back the history and culture of Venice, and sought to use the traditional Carnival as the centerpiece of their efforts.
Photo Credit: Manuel Silvestri/Reuters -- Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/04/world/europe/venice-carnival-2018.html

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​Today, it is a celebration of masks and costumes. Approximately 3,000,000 visitors come to Venice each day for Carnival, this year from February 16 through March 5. One of the most important events is the contest for the best mask, placed at the last weekend of the Carnival. A jury of international costume and fashion designers votes for "La Maschera piu bella" (the most beautiful mask).
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                                                 Photo By Christophe Simon/Afp/Getty Images 
                                             
▼Photo source:www.cnn.com/travel/mysterious-masks

 ▲Most Beautiful Mask-2013                                                                                                               Photo source:es.123rf.com/beautiful-carnival-masks-venice  ▲  creativecommons.org/publicdomain    

Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Venice
http://www.twistedimage.com/productions/carnivale/
The Portale de Venezia "Carnivale in Venice" Site
http://www.venetianmasksshop.com/history.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnalia
http://web.eecs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/Saturnalia.htm
http://heirloomjc.com/venetian_carnivale_masks_30.html

2019 Resources
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/whats-with-those-mysterious-masks-the-dark-drama-of-venice-carnival/index.html
https://www.venetoinside.com/events-in-veneto/great-events/venice-carnival/info/venice-mask/
https://www.planeteu.com/events/carnival-venice/
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/italy/venice/travel-tips-and-articles/venice-carnival-make-the-most-of-the-citys-biggest-party-of-the-year/40625c8c-8a11-5710-a052-1479d276b3ae
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Venice
http://www.where-venice.com/events/carnevale-venice-carnival-2019/
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/italy/venice/travel-tips-and-articles/venice-carnival-make-the-most-of-the-citys-biggest-party-of-the-year/40625c8c-8a11-5710-a052-1479d276b3ae
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Venice
https://traveltips.usatoday.com/history-carnival-rio-de-janeiro-11711.html

https://www.epochtimes.de/politik/welt/karneval-in-venedig-beginnt-offiziell-mit-dem-traditionellen-engelsflug-a2052864.html/attachment/italy-carnival-venice-2?print=1
https://dreamdiscoveritalia.com/2015/02/19/venice-carnival-the-most-beautiful-mask-competition/
https://www.planeteu.com/events/carnival-venice/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-do-venice-carnival-right-a-thrifty-travelers-guide-1516813185
http://www.where-venice.com/history-venice-carnival/
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/venice-carnival-2016-masked-costumed-revellers-party-amid-thick-fog-heavy-security-1541186
Photos only
http://css.history.com/topics/holidays/mardi-gras/pictures/mardi-gras-and-carnival/costumed-children-in-mardi-gras-parade
https://dreamdiscoveritalia.com/2015/02/19/venice-carnival-the-most-beautiful-mask-competition/
https://www.pinterest.com/violabz/




                                                                                                 
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WILL THE REAL MEGHAN MARKLE PLEASE SAY "I DO." - 2019 Trends in Wedding Gowns

2/8/2019

2 Comments

 
Sunday, February 10, is World Marriage Day, followed on February 14 by Valentine’s Day. If you or someone you know is lucky, there may be a wedding in your future. An appropriate time to take our annual look at trends in Bridal Fashions.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle by Getty Images
Dress by Clare Waight Keller of
Givenchy
Source: www.brides.com/meghan-markle
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The first Bridal Fashion week of 2019 is over, introducing hundreds of gowns, most of them beautiful, some of them, not so much.

Traditional styles and colors of wedding dresses never go away and neither do bows, lace, feathers, and other glitz. There is something for every taste whether a bride likes ball gowns, plunging necklines, black and white, or color. It's all there.

​However, certain trends emerge each year. 2019 is no different, and it is no surprise the wedding of Meghan Markle in 2018 sparked several major trends on the runways.

The Meghan Markle No Care Hair Look
The Duchess of Sussex rocked an intentionally undone bun which celebrity hair stylist Serge Normant called, "A messy bun. Messy in a controlled way, making sure it doesn’t become a whole mess after a few hours!"
Photo by Heather Waraksa               Photo by Masata Onodo
www.brides.com/wedding-styles       www.brides.com/gallery/beauty-trends
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The Meghan Markle Minimalist Look
Meghan’s understated and unadorned bridal gown apparently surprised the fashionistas around the world, and designers have leaped at the simple but elegant and sophisticated wedding dress, showing it in every collection. Even the decorated dresses were influenced by the slim clean-cut line of her dresses.
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                                                     Photo by Dan Lecca                            Photo by Dan Lecca                                                                       
                                                                         
Dress: Justin Alexander Signature                 Dress: Theia
                                                                         Photos source:
www.weddingwire.com/meghan-markle-inspired   
The Crop Top       
Separates made a big splash last year, and the crop tops of this year take on a bit of the Meghan Markle look in the shoulders. (Below, Right)                      
▼   
          
Photo by Phillip Van Nostrand                            Photo Courtesy of Cushnie                                                               Photo courtest of Galia Lahav          
               Dress by BHLDN                                                 
Dress by Cushnie                                                                              Dress by Galia Lahav
              https://www.brides.com/bridal-fashion-week        https://www.brides.com/bridal-fashion-week                    www.marieclaire.com/2019-wedding-dress-trends/
 
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Off The Shoulder                                                                                              ▲
"You will see more and more dress designs emphasizing the collar bones. Romantic off-the-shoulder necklines, off-the-shoulder sleeves, and detailed straps will be the dominant neckline trend." — Sharon Sever, Galia Lahav head designer  (Above, Left)

Backsides
Dresses with buttons down the back are big right now. The same goes for dramatic cut-outs, sweet details and eye-catching bows. This year, designers are choosing to add a little flair to the back of their creations there is something to see coming and going down the aisle.
(Below, Right)
Photo courtesy of Rime Arodaky         ▼     Photo courtesy of Theia                    Photography courtesy of Vera Wang              Photography courtesy Galia Lahavz
Dress by Rime Arodaky                                  Dress by Theia                                Dress by Vera Wang                           Wedding jumpsuit by Gala by Galia Lahavz    
Source of photos: www.queenslandbrides.com.au/2019-back-details/                  
Source of Photos: www.marthastewartweddings.com/2019      
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Larger Than Life Bows                                                                        ▲
These pretty loops have brought dainty vibes to wedding dresses season after season, but we can officially say that bows are beginning to pack a different kind of punch. After all, they're capable of doing more than simply defining a waistline. This season, watch out for larger-than-life-bows                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
Geometrics
Chantilly lace and opaque satin are still popular, but new-age geometric patterns and cuts are definitely on the rise. And for good reason. Whatever the interpretation—the style covers everything from crystal lattice beadwork to mod necklines. Examining the photos, geometrics seems to fall into three classes: Unusual fabric where the geometry is in the weave, traditional fabrics pieced geometrically, and finally the form for the dress itself, with a strong trend to the asymmetrical.


Photo courtesy of Naeem Kahn                         Photo courtesy of Justin Alexander            Photo courtesy of C. Ottaviano
Dress by Naeem Kahn                                             Dress by Justin Alexander                       Dress by Cristina Ottaviano
Source of Photos:
www.marthastewartweddings.com/2019  
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The Outrageous
Whether the outrageous comes from the designers or those brides who want to stand out and don’t care how it looks, they never disappoint. The see-through, although not dead, is no longer shocking enough, so this year Celia Kritharioti gave the traditional wedding gown a millennial twist. This bride won’t need anyone to manage her train … that’s taken care of with ten helium balloons.
                                                                                                                                            Photos: Getty Images
                                                                                                                                        Dress by celia-kritharioti
​
                                                                            Photo source: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celia-kritharioti
Sources:
https://www.brides.com/wedding-dresses-style/bridal-fashion-week
https://www.brides.com/gallery/bridal-fashion-week-fall-2019-beauty-trends
https://www.marieclaire.com/fashion/a25251051/spring-2019-wedding-dress-trends/
https://www.queenslandbrides.com.au/wtoo-by-watters-think-pink-spring-2019-collection/
https://www.queenslandbrides.com.au/wedding-dress-trends-for-2019-illusion-sleeves/
https://www.queenslandbrides.com.au/bridal-fashion-trends-for-2019-v-neck-styles/
https://www.marthastewartweddings.com/635484/spring-2019-wedding-dress-trends
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/bazaar-brides/a24775648/2019-wedding-trends/
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/bazaar-brides/a26049695/celia-kritharioti-haute-couture-fashion-week-wedding-dress-veil-balloons/
https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-ideas/wedding-dress-trends
https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-ideas/asymmetrical-wedding-dresses
https://www.vowsmagazine.com/events?eventTitle=new-york-bridal-fashion-week-2019--1458758055--31
https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-ideas/meghan-markle-inspired-wedding-dresses
https://www.marieclaire.com/fashion/g2179/wedding-dresses-nontraditional-bride/
  

2 Comments

BODY PAINTING AS A FINE ART

2/1/2019

2 Comments

 
Back in 2013, a friend sent me some pictures circulating on the internet showing body painting by nineteen-year-old Japanese artist student Chooo-San. She uses acrylic paint to transform herself into a mutant or cyborg. I was so intrigued that I had to find out more. Since February 1 is International Face & Body Art Day, I'm sharing with you what I found then and updated in the last couple of weeks.

THE ORIGINS OF BODY ART
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Body art is art made on, with, or consisting of the human body with painting, tattoos, piercings, branding, or scalpelling. Body painting is temporary, painted onto the human skin, and last for a day or two. Mehndi henna or temp tattoo and glitter tattoos may last a couple of weeks.

Tens of thousands of years ago, our early human ancestors used painting materials for cave paintings. Many scholars believe that before interior cave-decoration became a prehistoric fad, early humans used the same materials for painting their own bodies, primarily as camouflage for hunting and to defend themselves from predators. They certainly had many examples in nature to learn from. Can you see the picture of the owl above?


Whenever the practice began, body and face painting developed into decorating in shapes, patterns, and colors for hunting, religious, ritual, and military purposes--sometimes the painting was used to scare the enemy--and for artistic expression. Body painting, along with other rites, represents important changes in one's life, such as puberty, marriage, birth, and so on, and has been a part of most tribal cultures since ancient times. The art of transforming the human being for various purposes with make-up and masks seems inherent in all cultures.

Natural pigments, tree barks, plants, minerals, and clays were used; the colors and types of pigments depended on what was available in the immediate area. Different patterns, shapes, and colors have a different significance depending on the culture. Body painting became a way of expressing one's culture and identity.

According to fashionencyclopedia.com, body painting was traditionally used in many societies to signify a person's social status and/or religious beliefs. A temporary decoration, body paint lasted only a few days. In some cultures, both men and women painted their bodies only for important social occasions, while in others, people wore body paint every day as a uniform to show their social status.

TRIBAL BODY AND FACE PAINTING
Nearly all tribal cultures practiced some form of body art. The practice still survives in its ancient forms among indigenous peoples in many countries. While it is done primarily for ceremonial purposes (and tourism), it also serves to preserve elements of the culture and identity in an expanding world. Art makes us different. Julius Caesar wrote that the Britanni warriors or Picts (which means painted ones in Latin) colored their bodies blue when going into battle.
 
The Picts, Scotland                                      Iowa Indian Warrior                                       Maori Warrior, New Zealand                 Surma man from Ethiopia
Photo source:                                               Photo Source:                                                Photo Source:                                       Photo Source:                      
www.abc.net.au/radionationa                       www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/                                                                               https://www.pinterest.com
             

  Costumes, primarily Halloween                Sporting Events, Jersey Devils Hockey            Circus and other clowns                        Mimes and other entertainment

CONTEMPORARY BODY AND FACE PAINTING
Most of us are familiar with face painting in its contemporary forms. We see the images in ads, on TV and many other places, particularly related to the entertainment business but not exclusively.
   Military camouflage                                   Cosmetics - Daria Werbowy, Lancome​              Traditional Hand Painting                  Traditional bindi
www.globalsecurity.org/military  
fashion.zarzarmodels.com/Lancome/beautiful-skin  www.friendlymorocco.com/henna-tattoos www.thebridalbox.com/bindi-designs
 ​
And, ladies, your skin care and cosmetics represent a 160 billion-dollar-per-year industry. That's some serious face painting, wouldn't you say? To quote the Economist Magazine, an industry driven by sexual instinct will always thrive.
Even today in India and Morocco, brides traditionally have their hands and feet painted in henna, and Indian women. Hindu women and men wear their marking and symbols on their foreheads. The small red dot, worm by women, is called bindi and represents the social status of a married woman.


BODY PAINTING AS A FORM OF FINE ART
Body painting doesn't always involve painting large pieces of a nude body; the art form also includes smaller pieces on otherwise clothed bodies. The model may be a "stand alone" canvas for the artist, or may be part of a more complex juxtaposition of model (or models) and background. Perhaps that is why body painting is considered, by some, as one of the performing arts.

However, Lorenzo Pereira cautions that “Body painting art is a form of body art. Indeed, body painting art is usually associated with tattoo art. However, tattoo art and bodypainting are not synonyms. There are some substantial differences that should be mentioned. First of all, body painting art is temporary and it lasts only for several hours (unlike tattoos). Secondly, there are many examples of bodypainting that are considered to be a part of fine art. In the second half of the 20th Century, many artists searched for new visual forms that eventually led to the revival of the ancient practice of bodypainting.” https://www.widewalls.ch/body-painting-art/

The classification of body painting as a contemporary art is inappropriate because body painting has a long history and is better described as tribal art. Yet take a look at the next photo of the body painting by Liu Bolin, below. It doesn’t even come close to what I, as a non-artist, would call tribal art.

                                                           
                    Liu Bolin near the Ground Zero (courtesy of telegraph.co.uk)
                                                                                  Photo source:
https://www.widewalls.ch/body-painting-art/                                    
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Body painting as a form of artistic expression experienced a resurgence in the 1960's and 1970's, in part due to the relaxation of the social mores regarding nudity and the freedom movements of those generations. Some thirty years earlier, in 1933 at the World's Fair in Chicago, Max Factor Sr. and his model, Sally Rand, were arrested when he painted her body with new cosmetics developed for the movies. By the 1960's artists needed attention and were looking for something shocking and provoking to send their message.
​

Since the 1980's, body painting has become widely accepted in the US. Still, the art form didn't catch on with the general public until the Vanity Fair magazine cover of August 1992, featuring actress Demi Moore in a striking outfit created entirely from body paint [source: History of Cosmetics].

Now, There are publications dedicated to it, festivals, and competitions around the world.  The first art gallery dedicated to body painting as a fine art opened in 2006 in New Orleans. But still today, there is an ongoing debate whether or not body painting is a form of Fine Art. You'll have to make up your own mind.
 
ARTIST CHOOO-SAN
This is the artist who got me interested in this form of art six year ago.  Choo-San (Hijaru Cho) was born in 1993 and lived at that time in Tokyo Japan. She take "UNUSUAL" as a theme of her creative Art work such as Body painting, stopmotion movie, illustration, clay sculpture, clothing design, Character design, and all sorts. Also do collaboration with several cloth brands. In 2016 she was a student in Musashino Art university.


Using only acrylic paints and no digital editing, her illusions are only paint carefully applied to herself of her willing friends. The awesome and realistic results definitely draw attention. It's said she discovered her unique talent after doodling eyes on the back of her own hand during breaks from studying for university admission exams.

Photo sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjpwcXLZdSI ; http://www.boredpanda.com/realistic-body-art-chooo-san-part2/; http://flavors.me/chooosan#57d/tumblr ; https://laughingsquid.com/more-incredible-illusionary-makeup-body-art-by-japans-choo-san/

ARTIST TRACY CRAIG 
Fine art bodypainter Tracy Craig became nationally known as one of three judges of Game Show Network's Skin Wars. He is the owner of the Craig Tracy Fine Art Bodypainting Gallery.

He became a professional artist 16, and he had worked as an airbrush artist in a shopping mall and as a commercial illustrator.  He is from New Orleans, Louisiana and went to high school in the state before attending The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. His brother Phil is the director.

The top three photos are from the Tiger Project, which Tracy created to help save the endangered South China tiger.

http://www.craigtracy.com/
Photo Source: 
http://www.boredpanda.com/body-art-illusions-by-craig-tracy/
                                   Photo Source: https://allthatsinteresting.com/body-art
Bottom 4 Photos from: http://www.craigtracy.com/

ARTIST GESINE MARDEDEL
Gersine Mardele was born on July 4, 1987 in Eckernförde, Germany and raised in Dortmund.
After finishing school 2005, worked in an indian orphanage for some months, then studied "rehabilitation science" from 2005 to 2008 and finished with the Bachelor’s Degree.
 
From 2009-2016 she worked as a speech- therapist and, in addition, continued to study creative-therapy, receiving a diploms in 2011.
 
Through her work as a therapist, she got into working as an art creative-therapist at a center for autism therapy. Since the middle of 2016 she has been working only as a freelance artist. The artist says, “Bodypainting is not only inking on a living canvas; it is the recording of body shapes in the design, painting on and with the body. It is the transformation of a man into a breathing, moving, living work of art.”  Her work focuses on landscapes and animals forms.

 Swan - Photo Source:                                                                                                                             Flamingo, Seahorse, and Puzzle Man -  Photos source:  
 http://www.boredpanda.com/body-art-illusions-gesine-marwedel                                                          https://www.gesine-marwedel.de/deutsch/fine-art-galerie/ ​
 HACK
Emma Hack is an Adelaide-based artist working in the unique medium of body paint installation and photography. Exhibiting extensively throughout Australia since 1999, Emma’s astounding artworks have since captured the attention of collectors and art lovers worldwide.

Emma started her career as a children's face painter, qualified hairdresser and make-up artist. She gradually moved to body painting of world acclaim. In March 2001, Hack won the coveted first prize at the CIDESCO World Congress Professional World Body Painting Championship in Hong Kong. In 2004, The Adelaide Cabaret Festival utilised Emma's exhibition skills to feature a collection of celebrities painted as their cabaret persona as an exhibition during the festival. In 2005 she collaborated with Deborah Paauwe in her Dark Fables collection, featuring Emma's illustration on the faces of Paauwe's subjects.

Her Wallpaper series in 2005, 2007 and 2008 collections featuring Florence Broadhurst wallpaper designs combined with her body illustration has exhibited during the Adelaide Fringe Festival, along with nude landscapes and a continued collection of Florence Broadhurst wallpapers. It was during this collection that she began photographing the installations herself, evolving her art further. Emma's photographic images were exhibited at Art Sydney 08.
Photo source: neosurrealism.artdigitaldesign.com/Emma-Hack                                                                               historiadesigneteoria.blogspot.com/body-painting

OTHER PROMINENT BODY PAINTING ARTISTS
Cecilia Paredes            Bella Volen                  Johannes Stotter          
Trina Merry  
                                                                            
mymodernmet.com/body-painting       mymodernmet.com/body-painting   
 http://www.designyourway.net/blog/inspiration/the-art-of-body-painting-and-best-63-examples/
http://www.boredpanda.com/realistic-body-art-chooo-san-part2/
http://www.boredpanda.com/body-art-illusions-by-craig-tracy/
http://www.bella-volen.com/Body-Painting-History-Bodyart-History-Geschichte-der-Koerperbemalung.html
http://www.yomicoart.com/home.php
http://www.gesine-marwedel.de/
http://thechive.com/2009/03/13/stunning-body-paint-art-by-emma-hack-16-photos/
http://www.ideactionmedia.com/livingbrush/2012/10/30/hp-slider-bodies-as-works-of-art-2012/
http://www.chelkoevents.com/event-artists

2019 sources:
https://www.widewalls.ch/body-painting-art/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_painting
http://www.historyofcosmetics.net/history-of-makeup/body-painting-history/
https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-mediums/canvas-schmanvas-the-art-of-painting-the-body/
https://www.artistsnetwork.com/store/extreme-face-painting-z6621?utm_source=artistsnetwork.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=arn-cdh-fb-150713-ExtremeFacePainting
https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/body-art/body-painting1.htm
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2220495/Chooo-San-art-Japanese-makeup-artist-makes-models-burst-seams-zips-buttons-power-plugs-laces-painted-skin.html
https://laughingsquid.com/more-incredible-illusionary-makeup-body-art-by-japans-choo-san/
http://craigtracy.com/?page_id=444
https://www.gesine-marwedel.de/deutsch/fine-art-galerie/
http://www.bella-volen.com/fine-art-body-painting.html                                                
 
2 Comments

    Author R. Ann Siracusa

    Novelist, retired architect and urban planner, world traveler, quilter, owl collector, devoted wife-mother-grandmother, great-grandmother, and, according to some, wild-assed liberal.

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