Celebrity Shock Photo!

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dark green quote 1One day I woke up and there was a 70 year old woman in my bed.dark green quote 2

Gloria, Steinem, Feminist. (How to Age, Anne Karpt, The School of Life (2014))

Sibylesque Signature green

Roman border green

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Ever had a bad photo? Could be worse.

This one could melt your eyeballs!

Celebrities are pegged in our memories at the age when they were at the peak of their celebrityhood. This is just how the brain works. We remember famous folk when we loved or hated them the most.

As a result we are often shocked when we see how much a celebrity has aged. ‘OMG. They’re ancient.’ In reality, they have aged as much as we have. Take Shirley Temple, for instance. She was always 8 years old. This woman who pretended to be Shirley Temple Black with a diplomatic career was an intruder. Shirley Temple was 8 years old. In fact, she had to have her 8th birthday two years in a row as the studio thought turning 9 was bad for publicity.

So we are often shocked at how quickly celebrities have aged simply because we haven’t noticed them doing it. And we rather enjoy it too. Here is a recent pic of Goldie Hawn (b. 1945). It is an absolute dog of photograph. She doesn’t look nearly as, um, hideous as this, but this happens to be a screen grab used by Huffington Post linking to a video. Yeah! WE all have bad photos. Cue the violins. This is a doozy.

Huffington Post Screen Grab 24 Jan 2014

Huffington Post
Screen Grab 24 Jan 2014

 

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The Portrait of the Mother by the Artist

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by Kerry Cue

sibylesque Old Age Quote

Rembrandt's Mother Reading (c. 1629) when she was 60 years old

Rembrandt’s Mother Reading (c. 1629) . Cornelia was 60 years old.

In her book, How to Age (The school of Life, 2014) Anne Karpf writes about the imagery of old age as a ‘hideous ruin’. Sociologist Mike Featherstone called such imagery ‘a pornography of old age’. And don’t we know it. We are surrounded by such images daily including the shriveled and stooped portrails of old geezers and crones in comics, birthday cards, cartoons, advertisements, horror movies, sitcoms, TV crime series and more. And don’t forget the witches in literature from Macbeth to the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It is the aim of Sibylesque to provide the postive balance to this negativity. You can find such imagery at The Sibyls Salute: Jennette Williams.

The artist, however, runs into a dilemma when painting their own mother. Should they be sympathetic or realistic? Even artists can portray their own elderly mothers as ‘hideous ruins’. This was especially cruel as often their mother sat for the portrait when the artist’s model failed to appear. The painting that made Whistler famous resulted when the model didn’t show. (Below). The end result, however, was sympathetic. I will not dwell on the cruel images except for this sketch one sketch by Durer. I feel he was being very harsh on his own mother.

Drurer’s mother at 63 years of age. She had by this time experienced 18 pregnancies.

Durer’s mother at 63 years of age. She had by this time experienced 18 pregnancies.

Durer was not always so unforgiving in his portrayals of his mother. Here is an earlier oil painting by Durer of his mother. As one friend pointed out, Durer’s mother has a look on her face that suggests she’s thinking ‘Go on. Get on with it.’

Durer's Portrait of His mother,1490. She was 39 years old.

Durer’s Portrait of His mother,1490. Barbara was     39 years old.

Aging is often portrayed in modern media as some kind of failure. This is the price paid for living in a youth culture, I guess. Old age, however, can be presented with love and empathy and the result is an image, as Karpf notes, of dignity and beauty. Here are the portraits of artist’s mothers with their ages included:

Paul Cezanne The Artist's Mother c. 1866 when his mother was 52 years old.

Paul Cezanne The Artist’s Mother c. 1866. Anne was       52 years old.

Whistlers Mother, 1871. Painted when she was 67 ld.years o

Whistler’s Mother, 1871. Painted when she was 67 years old.

This painting by Whistler was a tribute to his mother. Here is a photograph of Anna Matilda Whistler.

Anna Matilda Whistler, ld.1850. She was 50 years o

Anna Matilda Whistler, 1850. She was 50 years old.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec portrait of his mother, Countess Adele Zoe de Toulouse Lautrec, 1883. She was 42 years old.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec portrait of his mother, Countess Adele Zoe de Toulouse Lautrec, 1883.   She was       42 years old.

Van Gogh Portrait of the mother of the artist, 1888. Anna was 69 years old.

Van Gogh Portrait of the mother of the artist, 1888. Anna was 69 years old.

Picasso's mother, 1896. Maria was 41 years old.

Picasso’s mother,1896. Maria was 41 years old.

Juan Gris, mother, 1912. At least Picasso painted his mother before Cubism etc.

Juan Gris, mother, 1912.  At least Picasso painted his mother before Cubism etc.

Lucian Freud, The Painters Mother,1983 . Lucie was 77 years old.

Lucian Freud, The Painters Mother,1983 . Lucie was 77 years old.

Photo source: If it’s hip, it’s here blog.

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Celebrity Shocker

by Leave a Comment

Roman border green

dark green quote 1One day I woke up and there was a 70 year old woman in my bed.dark green quote 2

Gloria, Steinem, Feminist. (How to Age, Anne Karpt, The School of Life (2014))

Sibylesque Signature green

Roman border green

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Ever had a bad photo? Could be worse.

This one could melt your eyeballs!

Celebrities are pegged in our memories at the age when they were at the peak of their celebrityhood. This is just how the brain works. We remember famous folk when we loved or hated them the most.

As a result we are often shocked when we see how much a celebrity has aged. ‘OMG. They’re ancient.’ In reality, they have aged as much as we have. Take Shirley Temple, for instance. She was always 8 years old. This woman who pretended to be Shirley Temple Black with a diplomatic career was an intruder. Shirley Temple was 8 years old. In fact, she had to have her 8th birthday two years in a row as the studio thought turning 9 was bad for publicity.

So we are often shocked at how quickly celebrities have aged simply because we haven’t noticed them doing it. And we rather enjoy it too. Here is a recent pic of Goldie Hawn (b. 1945). It is an absolute dog of photograph. She doesn’t look nearly as, um, hideous as this, but this happens to be a screen grab used by Huffington Post linking to a video. Yeah! WE all have bad photos. Cue the violins. This is a doozy.

Huffington Post Screen Grab 24 Jan 2014

Huffington Post
Screen Grab 24 Jan 2014

 

HOME