Superb Portraits!, 12 May 2004

By	Donald Mitchell "a Practical Optimist" (Boston) - See all my reviews

Before going further, let me observe that the book contains much female nudity that would earn an "R" rating if this were a motion picture.

Glenn O'Brien in the book's introduction captures the essence of the book well, "The beauty standard is being raised once again."

Whether the subjects are beautiful (and many are) or not, the result is the same -- a deep look into the personality and character of the model done in large, vivid detail in wonderfully contrasting duotone. One of the best tests for this book is to compare the celebrity images you see here with others you have seen of these same people. These images are more warm, more revealing, and more fun to see. Mr. Demarchelier has a light touch that gets out the happiest version of a person. You'll find yourself laughing and smiling your way through this collection, for sure.

The portraits displayed here are uniformly of very high quality, and provide nice contrasts of subjects (nose rings, boulders, children, and elephants among the beautiful people).

Here are some of my many favorites:

Nude, St. Barthelemy, 1994

Nude, St. Barthelemy, 1989

Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Wales, London, 1993

Warren Beatty, Annette Bening and their daughter, Los Angeles, 1994

Versailles gardens, Versailles, France, 1994

Gianni Versace, Paris, 1992

Nude, New York, 1995

Corbassiere, Paris, 1994

Helena Christensen, New York, 1992 (second image)

Cindy Crawford, Leh, India, 1989

Jasper Johns and Leo Castelli, New York, 1993

Roy Lichtenstein, New York, 1993

Naomi Campbell, New York, 1990

Isabella Rosselini, New York, 1994

Robin Williams (4), New York, 1990

Robert De Niro, New York, 1990

Sisters, St. Barthelemy, 1991

Christy Turlington, New York, 1990

Alice Dodd, New York, 1994

Natasha Kinski, New York, 1993

Warren Beatty from "Dick Tracy," Los Angeles, 1989

Elton John, Paris, 1992

Janet Jackson, Miami, Florida, 1993

Arthur Demarchelier, New York, 1991

Patrick and Mia Demarchelier and their three sons, New York, 1987

Meg Ryan, New York, 1994

Claudia Schiffer, St. Barthelemy, 1991

Paul Newman, Beacon, New York, 1994

Elle Macpherson, New York, 1990

Cindy Crawford, New York, 1990

After you look closely at these images, notice how lines and flaws provide balance and perspective in the same way that perfect figures provide proportion. How can you create more waves of enjoyable symmetry?

Drink deeply from the bubbling joy of humanity!

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