MARY ELLEN MARK

Some of you may have heard about Mary Ellen Mark passing away on May 25th. Some of you may even know a little about her and her amazing work. But those of you who do not, here is a little snippet into her amazing career.

Mary Ellen Mark was an American photographer, she did all kinds of photography from photojournalism, portraiture to advertising photography. She's been in museums worldwide and has 17 published books of her photography, not to mention the many awards she received throughout her career. She was known for being the "a snake charmer of the soul" as she was able to capture people so intimately.

A little about her life: Her first camera was a Box Brownie which she received when she was 9 years old. But all throughout high school and college she focused on painting and art history. And in 1964 she received her Masters Degree in photojournalism. Right after college she received a Fulbright Scholarship to photography in Turkey, where she also traveled around to England, Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain to photograph. In the mid 1960s she moved to New York City to document the demonstrations in opposition to the Vietnam War, the Women's Liberation Movement, Transvestite culture following themes of homelessness, loneliness, drug addiction, and prostitution. Only a few years later, she was a unit photographer on movie sets for movies from Mike Nichols' Catch-22, and Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now and over 100 other movies.

Mary Ellen Mark, Laurie on Pike Street Seattle, 1983, Gelatin Silver Print

Mary Ellen Mark, 1983, Life Magazine: Streets of the Lost, Runaway kids eke out a mean life in Seattle, Gelatin Silver Print

Mary Ellen Mark, The cast of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", Oregon State Hospital, 1974, Gelatin Silver Print 20x24 inches

Mary Ellen Mark, Woody Allen on his balcony, Manhattan, NY, 1979, Gelatin Silver Print

ADVERTISING AS ART

I know before I've posted how to be creative with advertising (see it here) but in this post let's talk about how advertising and art have been linked. Hopefully many of you watched the final episode of Mad Men this past Sunday, if not it's OK... but you should start watching Mad Men ASAP, and as viewers you would know when the advertising group (SC&P or McCann Erickson) would present their ad to their client they would really try and create a feeling sparked by the creative work. Art is just the same, art is only good if it creates a feeling within the viewer. Anyone can throw paint or charcoal at something, but if you can make someone feel something and move them with the specifics of what you did or the meaning behind it, then you've done your job and your work should be in a museum.

Advertising and Art have always had a close relationship for the obvious reason, they're both visual ways of communicating something. The beginning of that is Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and his lithograph prints and posters specifically. Even though he was a very skillful Impressionist painter, draughtsman, and artist in general his work with prints of the dancers of Moulin Rouge are what started the connection between Art and Advertising.

Throughout Art History we do see a lot more artists attempting to make the connection between Fine Art and Advertising. Another successful artist who made the connection is Andy Warhol. He started out early doing ink blot drawings of shoes and ended up creating massive collaborations. We all know of his Campbell Soup Can...

Andy Warhol, Campbell's Soup Cans, screen print, 1962 Display view at MoMA, New York

Andy Warhol, Absolut Vodka, screen print, 1986

Another artist who has combined with advertising is Norman Rockwell, like in this "Out Fishin'" Ad created for Coca Cola in the 1930s. This piece specifically creates a feeling and a world that you'd want to live in.

It's hard to tell when Art and Advertising combine which it better belongs to. They say any advertising is good advertising. Yet just a few lucky advertisers come along and create a feeling and a connection with the viewer that are memorable for many years to come. That is the connection with Fine Art and that is how you know you are a truly talented advertiser.

BIRTHDAY POST: GEORGES BRAQUE

Born today in 1882, Georges Braque would become a major French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor. Most importantly, he was a major contributor to Fauvism and the development of Cubism.

Georges Braque in his studio (from BRAQUE: The Late Works)

Fauvism is the style of les Fauves ("the while beasts" in French), who were an early 20th century modern artists who embraced painterly qualities and bright colors over the actual representation. Braque joined in on the movement right in the midst of it in 1905. He painted along with Raoul Dufy and Othon Friesz who lived in Braque's hometown of Le Havre. In 1907, he exhibited his Fauvist works in the Salon des Independants. Later on that year his work became influenced by Cezanne whose work he was able to see in Paris when they were exhibited large scale for the first time after Cezanne's death in 1906.

Georges Braque, landscape at la ciotat, 1907, oil on canvas

Georges Braque, The Viaduct at L'Estaque, 1907-1908, oil on canvas

The combination of Fauvism and the influence of Cezanne resulted in the beginning of Cubism. From 1908-1913 Braque's work reflected experimenting with perspective and geometry. In 1909 Braque began working closely with Picasso: "A comparison of the works of Picasso and Braque during 1908 reveals that the effect of his encounter with Picasso was more to accelerate and intensify Braque's exploration of Cezanne's ideas, rather than divert his thinking in any essential way." After broadening their Cubism ways together, Picasso and Barque began working with collage in 1912. This is when Braque invented the papier colle technique, which is when collage is strictly paper on a mount whereas collage can be anything on a mount.

Georges Braque, Guitar and Fruit Dish, 1909, oil on canvas

Georges Braque, La Guitare, 1909-1910, oil on canvas

Georges Braque, Fruit dish and glass, 1912, papier colle and charcoal on paper

 I think what is most amazing is that Georges Braque worked with Pablo Picasso and invented Cubism and papier colle collage together, yet in the years I've been studying Art and Art History this is the first time I have ever heard of him. Clearly people have combined the works into solely Pablo's work an it is about time to give Georges Braque the importance and recognition he deserves.