Rage For Color

I was feeling a little bit of a creative slump as work really picked up in April and May leading into June’s big Art Alive fundraiser at work. I am implementing a color-theme for Art Alive this year so it seemed silly to not try and re-inspire myself before the event. Because the event is in June and I’ll get to share so many of the amazing colorful results, I proclaimed June my self-appointed month-of-color. I warmed up by re-sharing some of my favorite colorful work from the past year on Instagram, but I have been simultaneously researching some out of the box ideas for some fresh colorful shoots.

I quickly discovered a photographer named Erwin Blumenfeld that I am ashamed to say I had never hear of until now. Blumenfeld was one of the 20th-century’s most sought-after fashion photographers. He was a real visionary and claimed to “smuggle art” into his work for fashion houses and magazines really pushing the envelope of traditional fashion photography. He originally shot in mostly black and white, but when color photography became his medium, that is when his work really became avant-garde. Inspired by the Dadaists and Surrealist of the time, he created iconic fashion images with imagination, humor, and irrefutable style. It was the collaged image entitled “Rage for Color” from Look Magazine in 1958 that immediately caught my eye and I knew I had to take a stab at recreating it with a modern twist. Angela of Create with Gusto was up for the task with her mad photoshop collage skills and the results what color dreams are made of. What do you think of our re-imagined masterpiece?

Photos of me: Create with Gusto

Vintage Photos: Erwin Blumenfeld

All Fashion: Vintage