Dora Maar
What I love about this surrealism image created by Dora Maar is how fascinating it is, not to mention she photographed this in the 1930’s when technology and cameras weren’t as advance as they are now. I love the creepy eerie effect it gives, as if someone is dead on the beach and their decapitated hand is coming out of a shell. Not to mention the sky is looking almost like ocean water at the top. I love the contrast and how well the image all cleverly fits into one another. She’s got the sand, the shell, the sky as if it’s a beach at night with what looks like a mix of the ocean in the sky. This is probably my favourite surrealism image I have seen.
This photograph taken by Man Ray a notorious surrealism photographer caught my eye, I love how the hand on the women’s face looks almost alien like. And the pearls as teeth with the crystals as her lips, it gives off a sophisticated yet very high fashion vibe. I like Man Rays work also and this was probably one of the least explicit images he has. The tiny clock as her eye is quite clever and could be used as an idea for illusion.
This image by Andre Breton was very eye catching and quite clever I hadn’t seen this idea using the mouth like a portal to another realm. It appears to be the Taj Mahal in India right at the back of the mouth, but with a dark alley way giving the illusion that you can arrive right at it if you just walk down this small lane. He’s used more than 2 objects to create this, so he has the mouth, the alley/lane, and then the Taj Mahal image. I think it’s very outside the box but also so simple at the same time. There’s a tiny bit of light at the end of the alley before the Taj Mahal and it really helps to highlight the Taj Mahal image or else without it, it probably would’ve all sunk in together especially in black and white. I do enjoy the image tho and like the mouth idea a lot.
This self portrait of Philippe Halsman is just incredible, there is so much going out but he’s changed the game of portraiture with this. You can kind of see in the corner a man holding the chair (not sure if that is intentional or not) so he has in a way ruined some of the illusion, however the cats flying out the painting with water is insane, and capturing it all along with him jumping mid air must’ve taken many tries. As for the painting stand it’s still very interesting how he’s managed to have it floating in the air, I do think some strings were used as editing software was practically non existent then.
This is another one by Dora Maar, I do enjoy her work and the exquisite dress with a women’s body but her star as a head was very eye catching, not to mention she’s coming out of curtains, possibly a performer. I believe that’s the reason for the star on her head, reflecting that this women is a star and she’s a performer or entertainer. But it doesn’t expose too much as you can see it’s all dark past the curtain, which further adds to my theory.