WARNING: THIS MIGHT NOT BE SUITABLE FOR OFFICE OR SCHOOL.
Thanks to C.H. I can identify the source of the wonderful pictures in this and the previous post. It's "Retro Atelier," a studio in Russia. According to their manifesto (I love manifestos...maybe Theory Corner needs one) they intend to shamelessly ransack the past for lost ideas that we can use in the present. Good for them! We're desperately in need of it!
http://www.retroatelier.com/en/lobby/Thanks also to Frank (himself a professional photographer), who wrote to Retro Atelier to find out who was responsible for all this. He was answered by the art director, Alex Galushkoff who said that the studio consists of himself, a photographer, set designer, costume designer, hair dresser and Photoshop master. The names of the models are all on the site.
It's hard to look at these pictures (above) without imagining stories to go with them. I picture the guy above as the character Emil Jannings played in "Blue Angel." The man is a respectable professor whose career unravels when he falls in love with a worldly cabaret singer.
As with all the pictures here, be sure to click to enlarge.
Wouldn't you kill to make a film with an actress like this (above)? She's the perfect villain! She looks like Edith Evans, the evil housekeeper in "Rebecca."
Nice color (above), and an interesting pose to set it off!
Uh-oh! The spirit of a beautiful girl (above) is either vanishing into, or emerging from the next world.
A gangster (above) plays cat and mouse with his frightened girlfriend. He talks about the horrible things he'd do to the fink who ratted him out. Does he suspect that she did it, or is he just toying with her?
Here's (above) a photo that looks like a fauve/futurist/cubist synthesis. A room full of naked women is probably more plausible in a painting than a photo; still, when seen large, it's really impressive!
Ah, the rich girl (above)...spoiled with Daddy's money, who hangs out with the wrong crowd and who requires the services of a private detective to extricate her. Sounds like something from "The Smoker," doesn't it?
Whatever she (above) heard on the phone has left this girl shattered. Now she has a choice to make: kill herself, or kill the boyfriend who betrayed her.
A nervous girl at a party (above) overhears a man introduce himself as a private detective. Just what she needs! If only it's not too late!
A woman emerges from a room (above) where she has just killed the rich man who threatened to send her back to the gutter. She's not worried. She knows a private detective is on the way, and she'll arrange to have him blamed for the murder.
An idealistic, "Marjorie Morningstar"-type (above). This treatment would be great for commercial portraiture, if you had the right subject and could take the time to do it right. Of course the effect is probably much harder to achieve than I realize.
Retro Atelier tried some 60s-style photography (above), but even that noble studio couldn't make the hippie era work. The 60s had style, but it was also a revolt against style. Everything then was loose and sloppy.
Another of Retro's failures (Above). I hate to dwell on negatives, because I'm such a fan of that studio, but it's a measure of their success that even what may be mistakes are worth discussing.
The attitude of the girl in the picture above is too ironic for my taste. She looks ready to smirk, and that undermines the reality of the picture. The hardest thing for a modern artist to project is simple sincerity.
Back to what Retro does well (above)...a beautiful Deco portrait.
Finally, a woman wearing a Deco-style veil (above). John makes fun of veils all the time, and I used to think veils were ungainly, but that's because I'd only seen the fishnet types. Imagine a mysterious and pretty face beckoning you into the shadows, and over her face is a delicate, vaguely menacing and supernatural pattern like the one above. Surely what she'd tell you would be the prelude to a life-changing adventure!
BTW: I'm busy putting up the "Love Nerds" site. It should be ready by the time I put up my next post!
