Visual Research Project: YSL campaign by Mario Sorrenti

Who do you know has the patience to flip though books and magazines, check museum collections online, persistently double-check with friends in order to properly identify the inspiration behind an elaborate advertising campaign? ME. I know it’s maniacal, but well-worth it!

Here I have my two favourite scandalous combinations: Both the Courbet and Manet caused a stir with their styles, both influenced by Photography. While the Courbet was a specific commission for the private male gaze, the Manet was a defiant public declaration. Delicious, is the fact that Kate Moss in a suit, surrounded by two naked models would probably cause a bit of a stir, even today. A woman, in a dominant (well, assertive, really!) role with two nude male nymphs? Outdoors, at a picnic? Both the original painting and Sorrenti’s photograph present relevant interpretations of social taboo.

In Mario Sorrenti’s homage to Courbet, the female embrace of the effeminate probably passes unnoticed, but I believe it is there. I could go on, indefinately…