...like I did today, whilst going past a picture framing shop.

There, in the window, was a painting of a couple - him in an anonymous suit - her similarly dressed. No other visual clues in the picture, just a one colour background. Impossible to tell in which time period it was set...

Got me thinking, anyway.

go back and take a picture!
otherwise you are just teasing us

Now, however, I have a nasty feeling that it's an incredibly famous painting that I just don't know, therefore exposing my artistic ignorance for all the (forum) world to see.
Nevertheless, I'll try and get something today.

haha. yeah, i imagine i would just as easily show up my ignorance as well. so don't worry about it.

So here it is. Not quite as I'd remembered it, but nearly...

Set46_02.jpg (55 Kb, 887 downloads)

I wouldn't say it's impossible to say what time period it is set. The dress and the suit both look very fifties to me. On the other hand, that may simply be exposing my fashion ignorance!

quote:

Originally posted by colin:
I wouldn't say it's impossible to say what time period it is set. The dress and the suit both look very fifties to me.

Yeah - in retrospect you're spot on. I'm thinking forties/fifties - especially her...

However, although this is not apparent from my pictures, their apparel is plain - no 'edges', labels or 'trims' of any description - a distinct lack of detail - and the 2 smaller figures to the left are the same two also. I had a pretty thorough look at it today, reasonably close up. The photos were taken with my palm - Zire 71 - hence not brilliant quality. But in context, pretty good.

looks like an interesting painting anyway. thanks for posting the picture.

I would say the style is fifties, but it could be modern! What goes around comes around, we've reverted to the 60's 70's 80's (sort of), why not the 50's? It could happen!
Personally, I think that if the painting was black-and-white... you know?
Since reading PR for the first fifty times (I read quickly and often), I noticed little blips of scenes in movies remind me of PR. The movie is usually completely irrelevant.

I have no objection to saying it could happen, but to my knowledge, it's not happening yet.

I do like the picture, because (in my opinion) it's such a nice composition. It also leads me to wonder why simple clothes, without visible brand names or pointless filagrees, have fallen out of fashion.

There is a Daria episode that shows a vintage subculture. I actually thought it showed some to me unknown fan thingy already happening.

blur

quote:

Originally posted by chimes:
in the window was a painting of a couple - him in an anonymous suit - her similarly dressed. No other visual clues in the picture, just a one colour background. Impossible to tell in which time period it was set...

I have a hunch that picture is by britain's most popular painter.

quote:

But Professor Duncan Macmillan of Edinburgh University, who in his definitive history of Scottish painting afforded Vettriano one paragraph, insisted: 'The analogy in fiction would be Jilly Cooper, Mills & Boon or Harry Potter - should J. K. Rowling win the Booker Prize because she's read by a lot of people? It's interesting as a phenomenon: he's obviously struck a popular note, but it cannot be translated directly into enduring quality.'

My emphasis. While I don't know that Vettriano should be handed prizes, I rather think he might not want one from the Art Establishment, I think Professor Macmillan has an interesting idea of what "enduring quality" is. True, Vettriano's pictures aren't particularly dangerous or challenging, but they are well composed and they have craft. Although whoever with the unmade bed may be remembered in academic textbooks for eternity, if an ordinary person came across a Vettriano painting in fifty years, I think they might still like it, while the unmade bed may well become a footnote in Art History, of interest only to academics.

Just my layman's opinion, of course.

quote:

Originally posted by colin:
While I don't know that Vettriano should be handed prizes, I rather think he might not want one from the Art Establishment...

Oh, he'd bite your hand off to get one.

most artists would love recognition from noted critics... i know pretty much nothing about this Vettriano, so you can ignore me.
every time i read "Google Cayce Pollard" i honestly have to stop myself from trying it the next time my internet explorer opens.

oh my goodness i watched "lost in translation" (starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johanssohn, filmed entirely in Tokyo) and i couldn't believe how amazing weird it was to be seeing Tokyo, having read so much Gibson set there. Iduro, anyone?

quote:

but to my knowledge, it's not happening yet

colin! you need to get out more.

That pretty much goes without saying. Are 50's clothes coming back into style? I hadn't noticed.

no, can't say that they are at least not yet!

quote:

Are 50's clothes coming back into style?

see here's your problem. no not 'in style' like pubesters and muffin tops, but sydney at least has had a small but dedicated scene for the decade i've been paying attention.

and it seems there's a 50s dress thing starting up at least in the higher end at the moment. the kids probably won't like it much though so it may be short lived.