NPG - Vanity Fair Exhibition

Jesse Owens by Lusha Nelson

1935

Lance Armstrong by Annie Leibovitz

1999

Q1: How does the subjects' body language, facial expression, gaze etc. influence the way we "read" their personality?
In both photographs, the body language of the celebrity clearly tells the viewer that he is an athlete. Although it is much easier to see that Lance Armstrong is a cyclist (due to the bike in the picture), it is still reasonably apparent in the photograph of Jesse Owens, that he is a sportsman. The photograph of Jesse Owens is slightly vague however, and it is hard to tell what sport he does. Although I could tell he was an athlete straight away, due to the position of the body, I thought he did discus or something similar, I actually had to look up that he did track and field.


Q2: Compare the photographic strategies for portraiture (technique, lighting etc) in the two eras of Vanity Fair.
The old Vanity Fair photograph of Jesse Owens looks like it is done in a studio, with studio lights and backdrop. It is very simple in its lighting and concept. The photograph of Lance Armstrong by Annie Leibovitz has a lot more set up, and taken to look like he is cycling outside in the rain. This helps add to the aesthetic effect of the photograph and contributes to the identity of him as a proffessional cyclist.

Q3: How does the photographer contribute to the construction of identity?
Both photographs captured their subjects nude (or with very little clothes), this helps add to the effect of the photograph and makes it more obvious that the subjects are athletes, as you can see the muscle and the human body. Both photographers captured their subjects in 'action' scenes, and adds movement and suggests sporting activities.


Q4: Is portraiture of "celebreties" truthful in any way, or is it just portraying the "character" or "mask" they inhabit?
Portraiture of celebreties is more often than not, not truthful in portraying their personality. As we don't know celebreties on a personal, or intimate level it is hard to know if a photograph is portraying the character or mask of a celebrety, or the actual personality. Often celebreties are photographed in a way the public view them, as singers, actors, sportsman etc. which is not the complete personality of the person, so therefore the photograph is just portraying the character of the celebrety.

Pictures taken from:

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/09/armstrong200809

http://www.portrait.gov.au/exhibit/vanity/exhib12.html?pagenum=

GOAD

The Dream House

The dream house installation is made up of a pool, a palm tree and a 'dream house'.


This peice appealed to me because when the museum first opened, I remember going there as a little girl and wondering what the heck a pool was doing there with a sign saying 'Do Not Swim in Pool', as a little girl this seemed obsurd! I also like this feature as it portrays a strong message about the Australian way of life.


The 'Great Australian Dream' is the belief that home ownership can lead to a better life and securities, and this is what this feature is refferencing. The white room is a symbol of Australia's built environment and the open roof is a connection to Australia's openness to the outdoors.


The pool is a main part of the feature, as Australia is well known for its swimming, and owning a pool is part of the 'Great Australian Dream'. And finally, the palm tree is a refference to Australias (mostly) tropical climate.


Richard Weller included this feature in the GOAD because the 'Great Australian Dream' is an important part of Australian culture, and the peice directly refferences that desire.


The GOAD is considered to be postmodern landscape architecture because it embraces some new ideas, but is directly influenced by other subjects and practices.

Dada

Virginity Girls Rue Loss
Regret the study she experiences in relationships, contraception in adolescent about towards 70 alcohol females. Social depth about people aged and guilty, Australian teenage fitting in romantic attitudes the influenced peers, losing perceptions made. Virginity and sexual expectations in 11 teenagers, appears that pregnancy most heavily found early in, choices first for a sex if that and it broke according to court. Girls relationships to girls into a young intercourse found that their sexual age spoke their behaviour.

Bauhaus

The Bauhaus inspired architecture I found is a defense building at the new developments near the airport. I believe it is Bauhaus inspired as it has very similar design qualities to that of the Bauhaus itself.

The Bauhaus was an art school founded in Germany by an architect named Walter Gropius. The Bauhaus was the first school to incoorporate art and design.

Bauhaus architecture is very angular and simple, being mostly made up of square shapes and lines. Many windows are used in the architecture and make up a large portion of the exterior.

The defense building has all of these design principles, being very geometrical in shape, and is built using windows as a main part. You can see by the pictures (Defense building above, Bauhaus below) that they share a lot of similarities and it is obvious the defense building has been inspired by the Bauhaus architecture of Walter Gropius.

National Portrait Prize

Rowan McNamara by Mark Rogers

I liked this portrait the best out of the competition for a number of reasons. Firstly, I love the subject, I believe it has emotion behind it and although the boy could just be playing, it makes you wonder if he needs the wheelchair. I also love the headlights in the background, it helps add some spookiness and works nicely with the lighting in the window. The head is perfectly placed between these two light sources, which help frame the picture. The negative space at the top of the frame adds to the aesthetic qualities of this portrait.

Paddy Man by David Van Royen

This was my least favourite portrait as I feel it lacks composition, tonal range and interest. The subject itself is rather boring, and has no real interesting qualities to it. The photograph is very dull, and the colours lack impact and depth, and I don't feel any real meaning behind this portrait.

Primitivism

1. What are some of the formal characteristics of Primitivist art?
Overt sexuality is a major characteristic in primitivist art, as ‘primitive’ people were seen as more sexually available compared to people in more developed areas. Abstraction of facial and body parts is often a characteristic, along with the use of pattern and colour. The artworks are also often very flat, without being overly realistic.

2. What is the difference between ‘primitive’ and ‘primitivism’?
Primitive refers to a group of people or a society who have not yet conformed to economic and technological advancements, and live a simpler life more focused on manual labour. Primitivism is the concept that life was better and more moral in a more primitive state of living, without the business of technological build-up.

3. Discuss how contemporary ‘Primitivism’ might manifest itself.
As we continue our advancement in technology we will be building up our society even further, and there will forever be people who long for a simpler time without all the complications of modern machinery.

4. Find an example of a work at the NGA that you think might be primitivist and discuss what might make it so.

Manao Tupapau by Paul Gauguin is a prime example of primitive art. The lithograph is of a naked primitive woman, who is drawn in a very sexual, but not seductive way. The artwork is also very flat, and doesn’t have much depth or dimension, which is often seen in primitive art. Paul Gauguin was one of the world’s most influential primitive artists, and left his home in Paris to visit places such as Peru and Panama in order to search of subjects who are more available to his artworks.

NPG

Lowitja O'donoghue
By Robert Hannaford
Lowitja O’donoghue is of Aboriginal decent and was born the 1st of August 1932. She was named Australian of the year in 1984 for her work to improve the welfare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people.
The artist has captured Lowitja’s personality very clearly in this portrait by his use of colour and her face expression. The colours she is wearing is obviously red, black and yellow, this shows that she is clearly of aboriginal decent as they are the three colours of the aboriginal flag. Her face expression says a lot about what she has been through. She looks very weary and tired, as she fought for Aboriginal rights for most of her life. But she also has a sense of accomplishment about her, and this is true as she finally was able to get support for the welfare of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders.


Meryl Tankard
By Ingvar Kenne

I couldn’t find an online image for this particular artwork, but it is a photograph of a dancer named Meryl Tankard. Meryl Tankard began her dance career in 1975 at the Australian Ballet School, and has since gone on to choreograph her own work.
The photo depicts Meryl sitting in a wooden folding chair with her feet pointed and her arms crossed in her lap. Although she is not being photographed while dancing, the way she is sitting with such grace and elegance make it obvious that she is in fact a dancer.