Hide and Seek

by Sarah Loft

Title

Hide and Seek

Artist

Sarah Loft

Medium

Photograph - Digitally Painted Photograph

Description

This digital painting is based on a photograph I took in a department store in Wiesbaden, Germany. I found the positioning of the mannequins/ torsos intriguing.

Per Wikipedia: A mannequin (also called a manikin, dummy, lay figure or dress form) is an often articulated doll used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, windowdressers and others especially to display or fit clothing. The term is also used for life-sized dolls with simulated airways used in the teaching of first aid, CPR, and advanced airway management skills such as tracheal intubation and for human figures used in computer simulation to model the behavior of the human body. During the 1950s, mannequins were used in nuclear tests to help show the effects of nuclear weapons on humans.

Mannequin comes from the French word mannequin, which had acquired the meaning "an artist's jointed model", which in turn came from the Flemish word manneken, meaning "little man, figurine". In early use in the United Kingdom, it referred to fashion models themselves, the meaning as a dummy dating from the start of World War II.

Shop mannequins are derived from dress forms used by fashion houses for dress making. The use of mannequins originated in the 15th century, when miniature "milliners' mannequins" were used to demonstrate fashions for customers. Full-scale, wickerwork mannequins came into use in the mid-18th century. Wirework mannequins were manufactured in Paris from 1835.

The first fashion mannequins, made of papier-mâché, were made in France in the mid-19th century. Mannequins were later made of wax to produce a more lifelike appearance. In the 1920s, wax was supplanted by a more durable composite made with plaster.

Modern day mannequins are made from a variety of materials, the primary ones being fiberglass and plastic. The fiberglass mannequins are usually more expensive than the plastic ones, tend to be not as durable, but are significantly more impressive and realistic. Plastic mannequins, on the other hand, are a relatively new innovation in the mannequin field and are built to withstand the hustle of customer foot traffic usually witnessed in the store they are placed in.

Mannequins are used primarily by retail stores as in-store displays or window decoration. However, many online sellers also use them to display their products for their product photos (as opposed to using a live model). While the classic female mannequin has a smaller to average breast size, manufacturers are now selling “sexy/busty mannequins” and “voluptuous female mannequins” with 40DDs and Barbie doll-sized waists.

Mannequins were a frequent motif in the works many early 20th-century artists, notably the Metaphysical painters Giorgio de Chirico, Alberto Savinio, and Carlo Carrà. Shop windows displaying mannequins were a frequent photographic subject for Eugene Atget.

The Twilight Zone episode "The After Hours" involves mannequins taking turns living in the real world as people.

Mannequins are a common theme in horror fiction. Many people find mannequins disturbing (due in part perhaps to the uncanny valley effect), especially when not fully assembled. In the 1970 Doctor Who serial Spearhead from Space, an alien intelligence attempts to take over Earth with killer plastic mannequins called Autons. Mannequins come to life and attack the living in "The Trevi Collection" (episode 14 of the T.V. series Kolchak: The Night Stalker). Abandoned nuclear test sites consisting of entire towns populated by mannequins appear in such films as Kalifornia, Mulholland Falls, and the 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes.

Note: The watermark will not appear on the print you purchase.

Featured in the Mannequin Statue Doll Sculpture Gallery group, October 2017.

Featured in the World Art Spotlight group, July 2018.

Featured in the 500 Views group, July 2018.

Uploaded

September 28th, 2017

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Viewed 2,079 Times  -  Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/24/2024 at 5:56 AM

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