Thursday, April 7, 2011

Patriotic Pinups


This famous series with the Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen was done by David LaChapelle for George Magazine in June 2000. It reminds a lot of the old patriotic World War II pinups.

like this by Billy de Vorss

or "At Your Command" by Earl MacPherson

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Secret Agent



This series of Bond girl Olga Kurylenko is by Ellen von Unwerth.

Maybe Unwerth was also thinking of the Bond films, but I believe she had more the female secret agents of the sixties in mind like Modesty Blaise, Emma Peel. But anyway it would have been retro like Bond himself.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Madame X

This photo of Nicole Kidman appeared in June 1999 in Vogue.

Steven Meisel presented her as a modern version of the famous Madame X by the American painter John Singer Sargent (1856–1925).

Friday, January 14, 2011

Call of the Wild

Naomi Campbell by the famous photographer David LaChapelle.

To me it looks like a quotation of the paintings by the French Post-Impressionist painter Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (1844–1910).


Sunday, November 14, 2010

Nighthawks

This photo is part of the 2007 Lavazza Calendar and shot by the Spanish photographer Eugenio Recuenco. It shows a kind of super heroine but it’s also a quotation of the famous painting Nighthawks (1942) by Edward Hopper.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Venus and Cupid

This photo by the Italian artist Gian Paolo Tomasi integrates typical elements of classical paintings.

First there is Cupid how he could be seen on many paintings from the baroque onwards till late 19th century art.

And there is the women looking like one of that odalisques on the popular 19th century harem paintings like this by the French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904).

Monday, September 20, 2010

Waterbabies

This stunning mermaid is by the British photographer Zena Holloway, who is famous for her underwater creations. Still I’m thinking that you cannot make photos of mermaids without quoting late 19th century paintings like for example that of the British artist John Collier

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The Birth of Venus

The spectacular advert for the new fragrance Alien by Thierry Mugler shows a siren or a goddess in gold. But in my humble opinion it’s mainly influenced by paintings showing the birth of Venus, the best know that by Sandro Botticelli to be seen in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence

Thursday, July 15, 2010

A Tribute to Klimt


Dior's 2008/2009 spring/summer haute couture collection by John Galliano was more than influenced by the art of a certain painter, it was a pure tribute to the Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt (1862–1918).

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Pre-Raphaelite Knights

These photos by Sean Ellis were published in The Face in august 1998.


Maybe they are not quoting but at least they are strongly influenced by Pre-Raphaelite paintings, for example like this by the English painter Sidney Harold Meteyard (1868-1947)