Artwork Page for First Beauty Composite: Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Sophia Lauren, Marilyn Monroe

Details / Information for First Beauty Composite: Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Sophia Lauren, Marilyn Monroe

First Beauty Composite: Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Sophia Lauren, Marilyn Monroe

1982, printed 1999

Nancy Burson

(American, b. 1948)
Culture
America
Medium
gelatin silver print
Measurements
Image: 20.9 x 22.7 cm (8 1/4 x 8 15/16 in.); Framed: 46.4 x 46.3 cm (18 1/4 x 18 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
The Jane B. Tripp Charitable Lead Annuity Trust 2020.75
Edition
edition 11/15
Copyright
© Nancy Burson
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

Standards of beauty vary not only across cultures but also through time.

Description

By compositing the faces of female movie stars from two different eras, Nancy Burson helps us see how the type of face considered photogenic and therefore beautiful changed over the space of just a couple of decades. Curiously, creating digital composites of women took Nancy Burson longer than producing composites of men because women’s hairstyles are much more varied.
Pixelated black-and-white computer composite of multiple White, women movie stars' faces into a headshot, looking at us. The face and jaw line are square with a wide mouth, thin upper lip and slight bow lip with semi-dark lipstick. The face has long, dark eyelashes and sculpted, arching eyebrows. Long, curly hair cascades down around the face, lighter at the scalp and darkening towards the neck.

First Beauty Composite: Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Sophia Lauren, Marilyn Monroe

1982, printed 1999

Nancy Burson

(American, b. 1948)
America

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