Women Seeing Women - Bettina Rheims - "Madonna Lying on the Floor of a Red Room I"
Women Seeing Women: A Pictorial History of Women's Photography, ed. by Lothar Schirmer (New York: W.W. Norton, 2003), p. 138. ...What have we here?
Bettina Rheims
"Madonna Lying on the Floor of a Red Room I", New York, September 1994.
La Ciccone is collapsed within a shallow alcove recessed in a wall that is covered in wallpaper with a loud superimposition of pale pink roses on a busy tomato-red pattern (have you ever seen wallpaper so garish and tasteless?). Her prone position allows her to rest the right side of her face against the inside of the alcove, showing the other side to the camera, while extending her left arm along the floor into the left foreground of the picture, making a strong emphasis on diagonal lines parallel with the wall. Her hips are twisted toward the camera, so that the side of her right leg lies along the floor.
She wears a skimpy sequined burgundy showgirl outfit with fishnet tights. On her face is a foundation lighter than her actual complexion (her peach blush matches her real skin color), plus a beauty spot on one cheekbone. Her glossed lipstick is Sultry Red by Max Factor (I just made that name up). Her eyeshadow is cherry-pie red and full of shimmer. Her nails are colored the deepest mulberry, the red that is next to black. Her necklace spells out a word, but I can't read it. Her hair is carefully disheveled and swept back.
Her eyes are closed, her mouth gaping open slightly. She is posed as a drunken or drugged-out débauchée who is wasted and passed out on the floor... and the viewer could almost believe it... except that she is arrayed so very stylishly and professionally lighted. That gives away the pose. The photographer wants us to see the convincing acting through the (implied ironic) stylization.
(Note to the viewer-- I found this copy on the internet, but it has been cropped and very much reduced in quality. To see the pic as I reviewed it, you have to get that book Women Seeing Women--it's such a great book you'll want it anyway)
Bettina Rheims
"Madonna Lying on the Floor of a Red Room I", New York, September 1994.
La Ciccone is collapsed within a shallow alcove recessed in a wall that is covered in wallpaper with a loud superimposition of pale pink roses on a busy tomato-red pattern (have you ever seen wallpaper so garish and tasteless?). Her prone position allows her to rest the right side of her face against the inside of the alcove, showing the other side to the camera, while extending her left arm along the floor into the left foreground of the picture, making a strong emphasis on diagonal lines parallel with the wall. Her hips are twisted toward the camera, so that the side of her right leg lies along the floor.
She wears a skimpy sequined burgundy showgirl outfit with fishnet tights. On her face is a foundation lighter than her actual complexion (her peach blush matches her real skin color), plus a beauty spot on one cheekbone. Her glossed lipstick is Sultry Red by Max Factor (I just made that name up). Her eyeshadow is cherry-pie red and full of shimmer. Her nails are colored the deepest mulberry, the red that is next to black. Her necklace spells out a word, but I can't read it. Her hair is carefully disheveled and swept back.
Her eyes are closed, her mouth gaping open slightly. She is posed as a drunken or drugged-out débauchée who is wasted and passed out on the floor... and the viewer could almost believe it... except that she is arrayed so very stylishly and professionally lighted. That gives away the pose. The photographer wants us to see the convincing acting through the (implied ironic) stylization.
(Note to the viewer-- I found this copy on the internet, but it has been cropped and very much reduced in quality. To see the pic as I reviewed it, you have to get that book Women Seeing Women--it's such a great book you'll want it anyway)