Semiotics Of Photography: Y

Y is for Yeah (Yeah Bitch)

Semiotics Of Photography: X

X is for Xanthippe

(Or, History's First Recorded Bitch)

Being Isn't Always Believing

Take the Countess of Castiglione. She knew a thing or two about photography: the power of the image. Famously, she manipulated portraits of herself in later years to appear more svelte and nubile than her middle-age spread allowed. A nineteenth-century kind of 'nip and tuck'; a Prima Donna of celebrity imaging,  pre-Madonna.

According to Malcolm Daniel, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York:

'Toward the end of her life, following a hiatus of some twenty-five years, the Countess di Castiglione resumed her sessions with [the photographer Pierre-Louis] Pierson. The pictures reveal her mental instability and loss of all critical sense'. (http://www.metmuseum.org)

Or more simply(sympathetically) . . .

This woman's world had been turned upside down: circumstances out of her control.

It takes some time, some doing - a lot of being without really believing in it - to regain one's perspective on life.

Heart Strings (Not Apron Strings)

You Make The Tea. I Will Draw (No New Words)

Part Four

Then, Jane entered puberty.

She began styling her hair,

While Peter remained puerile.

But, no-one seemed to care

That he wore the same clothes 

That he'd always done.

He was a boy, after all.

He deserved to have fun.

Jane scoffed silently to herself

When Peter drew a flower.

But, despite her knowing maturity

He yet wielded sibling power.

'Here's A Tree', Says Jane, 'And Here Are Some Flowers'

Part Three

But, Jane wasn't having any of that.

She was damned

If she were going to spend 

Nine months getting fat.

So she began to compete.

Put in the hours.

Her only mistake

Was to focus on trees and flowers.

For, as feminist historians

Have rightly realised,

Flower painting is/was considered lowly,

Neither acclaimed nor highly prized.

Have A Look, Jane (Boat Man)

Part Two

It was Jane who suggested the painting,

But Peter who took centre stage.

The Artist-as-Genius kept on creating.

In contrast

The hope was

Jane would start procreating 

As soon as she came of age.

To be continued . . . .

'Let Us Draw', Says Jane (Draw Us)

Or, Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?  

Part One

.

To be continued . . . .

The Golden Age Of Photogenic Style: How To Lob A Soft Ball When Dressed As A Snowball

Peter And Jane See Daddy Go Up And Down (An Apple Apples)

Note how, latterly, Jane adopts the same knee position as Daddy: possibly unconsciously, certainly posthumously.

But, unlike Daddy, Jane preferred not to come down.

This Is For You, Daddy, Jane Says (With Tea)

How To Demonstrate You're A Jolly Good S(p)ort And Secure Yourself A Man (Providing There Are Enough Of Them To Go Round)

How To Demonstrate You're A Jolly Good S(p)ort - In A School Uniform

How To Demonstrate You're A Jolly Good S(p)ort - In A Girl Guide's Uniform

How To Demonstrate You're A Jolly Good S(p)ort - In A Swimming Costume

The Golden Age Of Photogenic Style: How To Demonstrate You're A Jolly Good S(p)ort - In A Nurse's Uniform

How To Wear A Hat When You're Young And Don't Have The Words To Express How Lonely And Full Of Longing You Feel

The Golden Age Of Photogenic Style: How To Wear A (Cloche) Hat When You're Clinically Depressed

Sandwich Nearly Killed Woman

So, let them eat salad, as the French aristocracy may say. 

And, hey, what a day we spent in Calais.

The rain didn't matter when faced with a platter of raw vegetables (en francais: crudites).

How To Sit When You're Old And Tired And Think You've Had Enough But Are Too Well-Brought Up To Say As Much