Body Art Archives – Page 2 of 2

The images featured today are by photographer Brent Stirton. “Brent is a senior staff photographer for Reportage by Getty Images. He specializes in documentary work and he is renowned for his humanitarian efforts around the world. His images not only earn highly acclaimed awards, such as the Visa d’Or, World Press Photo and the Overseas Press Club, but also gain much needed attention to subjects that he is very passionate about. In fact, he was named by American Photo magazine as one of the ten heroes of photojournalism in 2007.” (from Getty Images)

Brent’s work is published by: National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, The New York Times Magazine, The London Sunday Times Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, The Discovery Channel, Newsweek, Le Express, Le Monde 2, Figaro, Paris Match, GQ, Geo, Stern, CNN, and many other respected international titles and news organizations.

Brent also photographs for the Global Business Coalition against Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. He has been a long time photographer for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), shooting campaigns on sustainability and the environment. He works for the Ford and Clinton Foundations, the Nike foundation and the World Economic Forum. He was appointed one of 200 Young Global leaders in 2009 by the World Economic Forum.

Recently Stirton was also awarded The Lucy Award for International photographer of the Year for 2008 and in 2009 he received the ASME magazine publishers award for photojournalism for his work in the Democratic Republic of Congo published in National Geographic magazine. In 2009 he received a gold award from China International photographic awards, as well as awards from the National Press Photographers Association, Graphis and American Photography.

The photos in this post are of the Omo Valley Tribes of Southern Ethiopia. To see more of Stirton’s wide body of work, visit BrentStirton.com. Note: images may be disturbing to some viewers as they tackle controversial and sensitive issues.

Sources: Getty Images, BrentStirton.com

1. The term Trompe-l’œil, (French for “that which deceives the eye”), is an art technique where the artist reproduces realistic images that fools the viewers’ eye into perceiving an image as three-dimensional. Artists have been creating Trompe l’oeil art since the discovery of perspective techniques dating as far back as 400 B. C. and it was part of the culture of the Greek and Roman Empires.

2. When the Germans invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939, Art Nouveau pioneer Alphonse Mucha was one of the first to be arrested by the Gestapo. He was questioned and eventually released, but having suffered from pneumonia shortly beforehand, his health was weakened by the ordeal. He died not long after on July 14, 1939. Over 100,000 Czechs attended the funeral despite a Nazi ban on the event.

3. Marcel Duchamp spent more than eight years creating his masterpiece “The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors( aka The Large Glass)”. After an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in New York in 1926, the glass was shattered in transit. Duchamp thought of the accident as another part of its design that was determined by chance. He spent weeks carefully reassembling the pieces.

4. Body painting is considered by many to be the most ancient form of art. The discovery of coloured pigments about 75 thousand years ago (many believe even further back) indicates that long before people covered their bodies with clothing, they decorated themselves with paint.

5. On June 3, 1968, Andy Warhol and art critic/curator Mario Amaya, were shot by Valerie Solanas after she was turned away from Warhol’s Factory studio. Warhol’s wound was almost fatal and would affect him physically and mentally for the rest of his life.

Brent Stirton: Photography

Art-e-Facts: 5 Random Art Facts VI

Sources: Springville Museum of Art, MoMA, MoMA, Skin, Wikipedia
Related Posts on DAF: Alphonse Mucha, Marcel Duchamp, Body Painting, Andy Warhol

Sources: Springville Museum of Art, MoMA, MoMA, Skin, Wikipedia Related Posts on DAF: Alphonse Mucha, Marcel Duchamp, Body Painting, Andy Warhol

Sources: Springville Museum of Art, MoMA, MoMA, Skin, Wikipedia
Related Posts on DAF: Alphonse Mucha, Marcel Duchamp, Body Painting, Andy Warhol