[pure-silver] Re: Jessie as Victorine

 
On Tuesday, March 27, 2007, at 07:28AM, "Shannon Stoney" <sstoney@xxxxxxx> 
wrote:
>PS Just now I used google images to find some Sally Mann pictures. 
>There's one called Luncheon on the Grass that is a clear reference to 
>Manet's Dejeuner sur L'Herbe, starring his favorite model Victorine 
>Meurent. Victorine was a prostitute, and is also the model for 
>Olympia.
>
>So it seems that at least twice, Sally Mann used Jessie as a stand-in 
>for Victorine in Manet's paintings.  I will say without apology that 
>this seems like a bad idea to me.
>
>--shannon
Dear Shannon,
I have three children and I wouldn?t photograph my children the way Sally Mann 
photographed hers, because it would not be documenting anything which is a 
normal part of our life style. 
However when I look at the  body of work which includes her children, it seems 
to document a casual and relaxed rural life where casual nudity is the norm. Ex 
hippie seems to about cover it as a descriptor for me.

Being clothed or unclothed, and what degree of clothing is deemed appropriate 
is a fascinatingly mutable cultural artifact, and the history of art is full of 
bits painted over or hacked off for offending a later generations sensibilities.

Is she exploiting her children? I? don?t think so.  The image which features on 
the cover of at twelve, 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0893813303/ref=nosim/theartcyclopedia
 and which was described in the review you quoted, seems to me to be 
documenting our changing mores, rather than having been created specifically 
for its erotic content.

I think a lot of what we see in images is in our own heads, and your comments 
have made it much harder for me to see the images mentioned as I think the 
photographer intended rather than as you see them.  I don?t thank you for that.
I could go on, but I think Sally Mann?s comments here are to the point.

http://www.nerve.com/dispatches/voicebox/puberty/Mann_Answer3.asp

All the best
Larry Cuffe


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