I explored the circus theme a while back in connection with Federico Fellini, Elsa Schiaparelli and fashion collections such as Manish Arora, Ashish and Tsumori Chisato’s.
Yet I must admit that too often when this theme is tackled in fashion, designers (but also photographers and stylists since circuses come back every now and then in fashion photo shoots as well...) limit themselves to create extremely extravagant and colourful designs that look at the more entertaining aspects of circuses.
But there is more about circuses than just an orgy of sequins and extravagant costumes and if, like me, you’re longing to rediscover the backstage or the more hidden aspects of circus life, head to Venice at the end of August.
After Milan, the exhibition of photographs taken by Stanley Kubrick between 1945 and 1950 while he worked at American weekly Look, is indeed moving to the Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere e Arti at Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti and it's opening on 28th August to coincide with the 67th Venice Film Festival.
The exhibition, curated by contemporary art expert Rainer Crone with the support of Washington’s Library of Congress and the Museum of the City of New York, and entitled “Stanley Kubrick Photographer”, features over 200 images divided into eight sections.
Among the others, visitors will discover images relating to the arrest of two criminals, life at Columbia University, jazz musicians and circus artists.
The latter - taken at the winter headquarters of the Ringling circus, in Saratosa, Florida, is actually my favourite section.
The images from the series “The world's biggest spectacle: a circus run by a family” and “Personalities of the circus” include a ringmaster with a clown, tight-rope-walkers, trapeze artists, a tattooed man with rings stretching his nipples, and a series of animals, from monkeys on stilts to elephants, leopards and a tiger.
Kubrick also shot one of the first colour photos of a circus ever taken (also included in the volume Circus 1870-1950 (published by Taschen), that shows a group of trapeze artists posing on top of a wagon (and that to me looks like a perfect fashion photograph...).
What fascinates me about these images is that Kubrick didn't portray the artists during their performances, but in ordinary moments of their lives and this gives them a much more real dimension.
All the images included in the exhibition represent snapshots of the early years of post-war America, but they also give us an insight into the world of a young man (Kubrick was 17 when he started working at Look) with a passion for telling stories through images.
The first image Look published taken by Kubrick portrayed a newspaper seller overcome with grief at seeing on the papers news of Roosevelt’s death.
From then on Kubrick used his camera to capture his subjects in natural poses, using special angles, hiding his camera to make sure his shots truly captured the state of mind and mood of the people he portrayed.
Influenced by Alfred Stieglitz, Eduard Steichen and Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, Kubrick’s images showed a special maturity that he developed later on in his films: many pictures and portraits are based on ambiguities, dichotomies and paradoxes, inspiring elements that can create interesting contrasts in art, fashion, photography and film.
Most of Kubrick’s images featured can be considered as early examples of photojournalism but they also prove he had a talent for capturing lights, spaces, perspectives and a natural curiosity to find the most perfect frames (check out the perspective f the image with the tiger: it's the man who looks trapped in the cage and not the tiger...).
If you’re into alternative circuses and happen to be in Stockholm for the local Fashion Week (currently on), from tonight until the end of August you may be able to see the new show by Cirkus Cirkör at the Södra Teatern.
Founded in Stockholm in 1995, this independent circus group is well known for adding a sort of anarchic edge to its shows, by mixing together different disciplines, from music to dance, opera and circus acts.
The new show, entitled Wear It Like a Crown and focusing on wearing fears and failures with pride, has also got a fashion connection since it features costumes by Anna Bonnevier, a fashion designer who usually focuses on playing with lights and shadows, blurred shapes and architectural forms in her collection.
It may not be exactly like watching a Stanley Kubrick film or his circus-related images, but I'm sure Wear It Like a Crown will provide an unusual night of fun.
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The photos are outstandingly weird!
Posted by: limo in mesa | June 08, 2011 at 06:48 AM