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Arts & Entertainment

'Beauty' Is in the Eye of the Century City Beholder

A new Annenberg Space for Photography exhibit explores how the camera's eye influences the way women are perceived in our culture.

Since its launch in spring 2009, has defined itself as a destination for digital and print photographic artistry with intelligence. And now, it is doing so with beauty. Make that "Beauty" with a capital “B.”

The recently opened Beauty Culture (emphasis on the “Cult”), which runs through Nov. 27, examines photography’s role in shaping contemporary images of women and, by extension, shaping–sometimes destroying–the female self-esteem or in some instances, women's lives. Equal parts "celebratory and disturbing," as the photo show's organizers put it, Beauty Culture runs along both blades of this double-edged sword.

The impetus behind Beauty Culture came from curator Kohle Yohannan, according to Patricia Lanza, director of talent and content for the Annenberg Space for Photography.

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“Kohle had just participated in the show Model as Muse at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City,” Lanza said, “which had a strong photographic element and book with same title, In Beauty Culture. He wanted to explore the issues related to [feminine] beauty and its many facets: size, color, age, gender etc.”

Lanza wants prospective visitors to know that, despite the photo show’s theme and subject matter, it is far from superficial or trivial.

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“This is not just an exhibition about beauty. It's about the culture of beauty for which photography and photographers play an important role in forming ideas and ideals,” Lanza said, “including those artists who rebel against the traditions or conventions of beauty, using photography as well.”

The exhibit, utilizing both print and digital imagery, explores a breadth of aesthetic issues as a mirror on society.

“Many women have body image issues,” Lanza explains. “These issues are perpetuated by the media, and the ever-changing standards of beauty that are almost unattainable for most women."

In an exhibit that yields many surprises, one of the highlights is Love Dior by photographer Tyen.

“He created this image for this exhibition,” Lanza said, “and you can see him create this photograph in his Paris studio in the film and hear him discussing his work.

“Tyen does not retouch his photographs; he shoots film and does all the makeup,” Lanza continued. “He has been the creative director of Dior for the last 30 years, a true master and genius.”

Lanza additionally singled out Ellen Von Unwerth’s Claudia Schiffer as The Real Barbie. 

“Ellen is a model turned photographer,” Lanza said. “Her photographs of women are sensual and playful."

Another featured photographer, Melvin Sokolsky, eschewed digital equipment for the more traditional film to capture his imagery, which remains distinctive, even when pitted against dozens of other professionals.

“It is my belief that as a photographer, one is only in competition with one's self,” Sokolsky recently wrote on his blog.

Man Ray, Jean-Paul Goude, Guy Bourdin, Horst, Lauren Greenfield, Philippe Halsman, Chuck Close, Leonard Nimoy, Bert Stern and Herb Ritts are also among the photographers included in the show. Marilyn Monroe, Grace Jones, Madonna, Hilary Swank, Iman, Kate Moss, Nancy Kwan, Stephanie Seymour, Venus Williams, Megan Fox and Angelina Jolie are among the familiar faces in the images.

Lanza believes that those viewing Beauty Culture's more than 175 print images, representing about 100 photographers, will take from it something extraordinary and insightful, and not just those attendees of the female gender.

“Hopefully, visitors will find some meaning in this exhibition for their own image issues,” Lanza said. “This is also an exhibition for men who might take away some understanding of the pressures that women face, but they can also enjoy the beauty of women in all shapes, sizes and color.”

 For more information, visit Annenberg Space for Photography's website

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