The Dandy and Photographic Death;
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The Dandy
My interest in Dandyism has come from my use of costume and dress in my work, which has continued into my everyday appearance. For example, the personas 'SuperCamp', 'The Lace Gimp' and the 'English Gent'. 'SuperCamp' is an androgynous Super Hero, who is lovely to everything, and defeats 'evil' with an abundance of loveliness. This character appears in movies and makes occasional live performances. 'The Lace Gimp' is me wearing a lace gimp suit. As a character it as constrained and unable or unwilling to move. It becomes sexless, inanimate and objectified. 'The Lace Gimp' appears live as a 'sculptural' piece. The 'English Gent' has become both an everyday persona, and the creator of certain pieces of photographic work. In each of these cases I am singling out an aspect of myself, and personifying it. These characters are defined by costume, appearance and manner. As artworks they become solid creations that are separate from me. I become an actor playing a role, even though the role is based on myself. The boundaries between what is real and what is acted break down and my identity is divided into parts. The part I play most of the time, which I will refer to as 'I', identifies with the image of the Dandy. This is evident in my dress, but fashion per se, is not the link I plan to discuss. It is more the practice of 'over thinking dress'. By this I do not mean dressing in an outlandish mode, but dressing as something, a kind of self-objectification. Rather than describing the surface of the Dandy, I will try to ascertain his motivation. For this I shall reference two Dandies, Beau Brummell and J K Huysmans' fictional character Des Esseintes. Brummell was an early 19th Century English Dandy, and Des Esseintes a later fin de siecle dandy in Paris. Both are examples of the archetypal Dandy, but from very different environments and times. My focus will be on the picturesque quality of the dandy and his need for a sense of the unreal. To try to find a definition I looked to Charles Baudelaire's 'The Dandy', which is part of his article 'The Painter of Modern Life'. He begins; "The wealthy man, who, blasé though he may be, has no occupation in life but to chase along the highway of happiness, the man nurtured in luxury, and habituated from early youth to being obeyed by others, the man, finally, who has no profession other than elegance, is bound at all times to have a facial expression of a very special kind." (Baudelaire) Dandyism, contrary to popular belief is not based in a love for fancy clothes and material possessions. These may be used to symbolise the dandy's aristocratic and 'superior' mind but for him perfection in dress is about absolute simplicity and elegance. It is the dandy's overall desire to create what Baudelaire termed, "a personal form of originality" that sets him apart. Baudelaire's Dandy seems to rely on an excess of wealth, his main concern being individuality rather than a delight in elegant clothes and appearance. Though he describes the Dandy as being from a wealthy background, never having to work or think of money, Baudelaire, himself a dandy had to work. In fact Dandyism was adopted by the Bohemian circles as a revolt against bourgeois mediocrity in Paris at the end of the 19th Century, a period known as fin de siecle. (end of century) This term carries connotations of a state of mind, of weariness, cynicism and a lowering of morals and standards, brought about by a sense of foreboding. Social commentators tried to link social and artistic phenomena, seeing the fashionable classes as being gripped by fin de siecle hysteria and developing a taste for morbid art, suggesting that there was an impending collapse in standards. It is possible that the Dandy that Baudelaire wrote about was either an ideal, or he was referring to the original regency Dandyism of the early 19th Century. Perhaps the original Dandy, Beau Brummell (1778-1840), carved himself a unique place in English society. His dress sense and fashionable appearance gained him a social position close to the Prince Regent. He could even look down on his royal patron in matters of taste. To Brummell dress was about absolute modernity and simplicity. It is through Brummell that long trousers became fashionable. Brummell was a perfect Dandy and he became the model for the later fin de siecle dandies. While his clothes often broke new ground it was always done with style in mind. He developed a look of absolute perfection and attention to detail. His biographer recalled that, "his chief aim was to avoid anything marked, one of his aphorisms being that the severest mortification which a gentleman could incur, was to attract observation in the street by his outward appearance." (Ratcliff 2001,pg 104) In Bulwer-Lytton's 1828 novel the hero Pelham, loosely based on Brummell, expresses similar ideas, "Dress so that it may never be said of you, 'What a well dressed man!' but 'What a gentleman like man!'" He also advises, "A man must be a profound calculator to be a consummate dresser. One must not dress the same whether one goes to a minister or a mistress, an avaricious uncle or an ostentatious cousin. There is no diplomacy more subtle than that of dress." (Bulwer-Lytton, 1828) This attention to perfection in dress, and it being appropriate for the occasion was partly designed to render the Dandy invisible, the ability to go unnoticed like part of the furniture. This is where the association with the Flaneur is apparent. The Flaneur* can be defined as an observer of life, perfectly presented but invisible. In the case of Brummell Ratcliff suggests, as well as invisibility there is inexplicability. As well as his dress the Beau is famous for his wit, however, Hazlitt who sometimes ate dinner with Brummell, recalls his jokes, "are of a meaning so attenuated that nothing lives 'twixt them and nonsense; they hover on the brink of vacancy, and are in their shadowy composition next of kin to nonentities." (Ratcliff 2001 pg 103) It is this inanity and perfection of appearance that persuades Carlyle in 'Sartor Resartus' that the Dandy's wish is to be nothing more than "a visual object, or a thing that reflects rays of light." (Carlyle, Ch X) It is as if Brummell attained a loss of a dimension, as Hazlitt described, "the Beau preserved the perfection of an attitude - like a piece of incomprehensible still life." (Ratcliff 2001 pg 103) He saw Brummell as losing a dimension, becoming pictoral, a painting. In Huysmans', 'A Rebours', (Against Nature) he portrays a Parisian Dandy, Des Esseintes. Huysmans based the character on a real life Dandy, Count Robert de Montespuiou. Often described as the 'Prince of Aesthetes' the Count was a fashionable aristocrat in fin de siecle Paris. He was also one of the most influential and progressive critics of the visual arts of his time. However, Phillipe Jullian, in his book 'Prince of Aesthetes', considers the late 19th Century French aristocracy to have a lowered intellect and an obsession with the past due to their exile from power*. Although they did have the ability "to produce eccentrics who gave full rein to their fancies without a care for what others thought of them" and Count Robert de Montesquiou, from 'A Rebours' would appear to be one of these. Based on Des Esseintes, Robert Baldick, a Huysmans scholar, concludes that the Count was a "somewhat ridiculous person". (Blackford 2000) 'A Rebours', written in 1884, is a concentration of Huysmans' vision of life and came to express those aesthetic ideals that came to be known as decadent. Artistic decadence is only such in relation to classic style**, which is held to be beautiful because the parts are subordinate to the whole. Beauty in decadent art is created where the whole is subordinate to the parts. The classic manner strives after the virtues that the whole may best express, while the decadent deprecates the importance of the whole for the benefit of its parts, striving after the virtues of individualism. Within 'A Rebours' this structure is evident, with each chapter having little or no continuity from the previous one. There is no grand plot or story that unfolds, but descriptions of individual elements or tales of Des Esseintes. The ending carries with it no moral or reward for the reader, in fact it leaves the 'hero' in just as desperate state as when you are introduced. This is typical of decadent writing, the author not trying to deliver a message, but simply to describe something taking place with no judgement put upon it. Des Essaintes describes Petronius' 'Satyricon' as having, "no need to fake a conclusion or point a moral; this story with no plot or action in it, simply relating the erotic adventures of certain sons of Sodom, analysing with smooth finesse the joys and sorrows of these loving couples, without affording a single glimpse of the author, without any comment whatsoever, without a word of approval or condemnation of his characters" Decadence suggests descending, falling, decay, figuratively going to hell. While this does link with the fin de siecle attitude this decay can also be considered as a breaking down of its parts for the benefit of the individual. An age of decadence is not only a time of sinners and degenerates, but also of heroes and martyrs. A period of individualism is usually an age of decadence in art. It is in this decadent fashion that Des Esseintes pursues experience in the senses. Perfume and taste are artistically rated as highly as sight and sound. He creates a 'mouth organ' of liqueurs capable of blending an infinite variety of tastes, which he compares to an orchestra. But these pleasures are solitary, only created for his own indulgence. Des Esseintes is idealistic and lives in his own reality. Whilst decorating his new abode he decides that the colours on a rug he has purchased are not working as they should, so he purchases a tortoise to move about on it, stirring up the colours and setting them off against its dark shell. However the contrast makes the rug seem garish and bright, so to tone it down he has the tortoise gilded, and a Chinese floral design produced in jewels on its shell. Upon the tortoise's rapid death Des Esseintes ponders whether it chose to die, being used to a more humble existence, embarrassed by its enforced showy glamour. Perhaps as the cause, or result of his view on life, Des Esseintes abhors his fellow human beings, and when forced to see others, refers to "waves of human mediocrity" Constantly dissatisfied with reality he prefers the ideal that he can create. One of the best examples of this is his attempt to travel, as he had always wished to visit Holland and England. First he ventured to Holland, with visions from Rembrant and Teniers, but returned disappointed. To save being let down by England also, he instead took himself to a bar in Paris and drank port which the English love, then to a tavern to eat what he thought the English might eat, surrounded by English people. He questions why one should actually leave one's chair to travel to an actual place, "what can one expect save fresh disillusionment as in Holland." By simulating the experience he can get from it exactly what he desired, with no risk of disappointment. "imagination could provide a more-than-adequate substitution for the vulgar reality of actual experience." (Huysmans, pg21) Des Esseintes believes that artifice is superior to nature in almost every instance. "Nature has had her day…like a tradesman specializing in a single line of business; what petty-minded restrictions,…what a monotonous store of meadows and trees…" (Huysmans pg22) Everything in nature is reproducible and perfectible by human genius. There is no need for real flowers that shall wither and die, when craftsmen can produce replicas from velvet and paint to look just the same or better, and any perfume one can dream of can be added. These flowers will then last forever. Many of these views come directly from Huysmans and express his "disgust for men and things."(Ellis pg1) This intolerance of the everyday / reality and people leads him to art and literature. Huysmans' repulsion of the human body is evident as he talks about Degas as the only artist to truly paint the nude since Rembrant. Far from seeing beauty in the figures he describes a "frog-like and simian attitude," a pitiful homeliness, "the humid horror of a body which no washing can purify." (Ellis pg7) Through Huysmans and one of the vehicles for his ideas, Des Esseintes, we can see traits that lie at the heart of dandyism, an abject fear of reality, in particular of the human body. Art, artifice and exploration of the senses take the place of human interaction. Living purely for the benefit of the self, the individual, set apart from society, decadent. This aversion to the real seemed to control his appearance also. Many observers noted the reflective deliberation of his serious and courteous manner, and how this recalled his favourite animal, the cat. "….the cat; whose outward repose of Buddistic contemplation envelopes a highly strung nervous system, while capacity to enjoy the refinements of human civilisation comports a large measure of spiritual freedom and ferocity." (Ellis pg2) As well as being compared to the beautiful composure of a cat, Ellis goes somewhat further, comparing Huysmans face with one of Baudelaire's portraits. With "the face of a resigned and benevolent Mephistopheles who has discovered the absurdity of the Divine order but has no wish to make any improper use of his discovery." In this part of the essay I have identified the manifestations of dandyism with two main examples. In the case of Brummell his fine dress and perfect image served to gain him social status, taking him to the top of English aristocracy. He became the visual model for later fin de siecle dandies in Paris and London. Huysmans and his character Des Esseintes were quite different. Here dandyism is part of decadence, and an attempt to remove himself from social involvement. Des Esseintes' concerns were sensory and spiritual, while Brummell needed the people around him to support his lifestyle. Both acquire a pictoral presence, a fear of reality and of being real, a denial of being biological, mortal. It seems that there is a constant effort to raise themselves above the rest of humanity by being perfect, ageless, beautiful and irrelevant. This irrelevance comes from either the nonentity of Brummell's famous wit or idiosyncrasies such as Des Esseintes' jewel encrusted tortoise. Jules Barbey D'Aurevilly notes in his piece, 'Dandyism and Beau Brummell' that even being interested or caring was too much for a Dandy, "If one were truly passionate one would be too real to be a Dandy." (D'Aurevilly, 1897 pg101) D'Aurevilly goes on to describe the Dandy's eyes as having, "a look of glacial indifference without contempt".(D'Aurevilly, 1897 pg111) But irrelevance is essential to remain inhuman, ageless, to make nothing that can mark a point in time or develop. "I'm so glad that you have never done anything, never carved a statue, or painted a picture, or produced anything outside of yourself! Life has been your art, you have set yourself to music. Your Days are your sonnets" Dorian rose up from the piano and passed his hand through his hair, "Yes life has been exquisite," he murmured. (Wilde, 1891 pg207) *A Flaneur is generally defined as a perambulator, or an idle man-about-town. Fin de Siecle Dandies were often Flaneurs, strolling around town unnoticed observing life. Many Flaneurs were artists writers or poets, a famous example being Manet. **It is suggested that aristocratic inbreeding may also account for this 'lowering of standards'. |
Photographic Death
'Photographic death' refers to a link between photography and mortality. Both the idea that a moment can be captured and become a solid object, outliving its subject matter, and contrary to this, the fact that photographs themselves are mortal and subject to ageing and decay.
While researching this idea I found that artists have experimented with this previously in a variety of ways. The piece that interested me most was by Ulay. In this essay I shall first describe his show, how it functioned and what it represents. I shall then investigate the relationship between photography and death, looking in particular at Roland Barthes 'Camera Lucida'. In this Barthes discloses many associations and I shall apply these to Ulays' piece.
In a series of shows called 'Fototot', or 'Photo Death' in 1976, Ulay would develop but not fix huge portraits of people he knew would come to the show. He would hang about nine of them on three walls of a red lit space. When people came into the space the pictures would appear very dark. Once all were assembled the lights would be switched on, and the images would fade to black within 3 - 15 seconds. In these few seconds the audience would be able to glimpse, through dilated eyes, the portraits of themselves or their friends. Just as their eyes were accustomed to the light, the pictures would decay before them, leaving only black*. (interview with Ulay, 2000)
In this piece Ulay exhibits the death of the physical photograph, but also implies the death of the pictured person. For this to be effective there must be a strong relationship between the captured image and the subject. Barthes sees any specific photograph as always being linked to its referent** and being indistinguishable from it. I quote
"It is as if the photograph always carries its referent with itself, both affected by the same amorous or funereal immobility, they are glued together, limb by limb, like the condemned man and the corpse in certain tortures." (Barthes 1981 pg5)
Which is the corpse and which the condemned man could be argued either way. The photograph shall always be affected by the actions of its subject, even after it's taken. A picture of a man as may not evoke any emotion upon viewing, but if one was told that this man was a murderer, ones reaction to the photograph would be changed.
In this performance Ulay carries out stages 1 and 2 before the audience arrive. As the paper is covered in developer and has not been 'stopped' or 'fixed' it remains sensitive to light. When the lights are turned on the whole paper is exposed and turns black.
Barthes describes how "a photograph is always invisible: it is not it that we see." (Barthes 1981 pg6) I take this as meaning that it is always the referent* that we see that defines the photograph, not the photograph itself. Therefore within portrait photography, instead of the photo paper, we see the person.
Barthes takes a very personal look at how he feels being photographed. He first sees the suggestion of death simply in the posing for the picture.
He sees the referent, himself, as emitting an eidolon or phantom. This is referred to as "the Spectrum" describing both the spectacle of the image and the captured spectre. In every photograph this spectre exists as "the return of the dead." (Barthes 1981 pg9) Barthes can feel himself becoming inanimate, a posed version of himself, trying to create the correct visual account of himself, if only for that split second. In order to pose for a portrait, to be fully aware of how one looks at this moment,
"I do not stop imitating myself, I invariably suffer from a sensation of inauthenticity, the photograph represents that very subtle moment when I am neither subject nor object, but a subject who feels he is becoming an object; I then experience a micro version of death; I am truly becoming a spectre." (Barthes 1981 pg13)
It is this separation of consciousness and identity, seeing yourself as other, as an object, as becoming an image that is becoming 'death in person'.
Ulay's 'Fototot' relies on this strong link between the photograph and the referent, so that in the brief moment of clarity it is not the photograph that the audience sees but themselves.
The second place that Barthes finds death is in what he terms 'Flat Death': this is the inevitable destruction of the captured image. The referent is established in the image, its spectre captured, but the photograph itself is not immortal. At the point of its creation, the image emerges quickly from white to a point of being new and vibrant. However in time it will fade, weaken, vanish.
"like a living organism, it is born on the level of the silver sprouting grains, it flourishes for a moment, then ages…" ." (Barthes 1981 pg93)
Ulay's piece seems to highlight this second form of photographic Death. The pre-captured images are left chemically unfixed and free to change. The audience members who are depicted then watch as their spectres rapidly decay, this captured moment dead. There are differences though: the image does not fade to white or yellow through age, instead it is the process of its creation that degrades it, with the entire surface turning black. The original lines that created the image of the face, the identity, are lost. Interestingly the end points of each process of decay result in shades with strong associations to death, black and white. Black, an invocation of the end, of nothingness, of void. When I dream that I am dying, at the point of passing, my vision invariably turns to black. Life is the light and death is the dark. White also can suggest death, the ashen complexion of a corps, as well as the assumed colour of the afterlife or of a pure soul or spirit.
In Ulay's piece I think that it is as much the technique, or the medium that is exposed as the mortality of the person. The emulsion remains unstable, unfixed, alive, but as with life only changeable in one direction. Ultimately the image is lost to black, the inevitable end point for the process. The reaction that creates the image, by continuing, destroys the image. As with living, by continuing to live one comes closer to death.
Within my video and photography work I have become interested in the idea of a moving or developing still image, a moment caught in time, its' meaning developing as the piece continues. For example 'Room', a video where a moment of suppressed despair is controlled to an everlasting drone or dull scream. The same moment is refilmed from various positions around the figure, all focused inwards. These viewpoints circulate randomly, prolonging the point in time indefinitely. This functions differently to a photograph, or series of photographs in an important way. Where the photograph captures an expression and makes it solid and stationary, giving it a permanence it would not of otherwise had, it does not literally prolong the moment. It memorialises it. The video of a point in time and looped functions to replay the moment, or give the moment the appearance of continuing, perhaps forever.
My first experiment with this was on my own in a dark room. I used an image of myself laying on the floor, and the image of a clock. These were then enlarged onto paper and developed. Rather than moving them through the 'stop' and 'fix' chemicals they were left in the 'developer'. With the introduction of a small amount of white light after the image has appeared the image gradually turns black. The same image of me on the floor, and images of different times on the clock were then developed and left to pile up in the developing tray, until it was full of blackened paper. As this piece only works as a performance, only black paper being left afterwards, I documented the images appearing and disappearing on video.
Here the photograph lasts only as long as the moment it represents, it's appearance and disappearance about a minute apart. It is in a constant state of change, with its capacity for memorial or document gone, its' existence is mortal and brief.
"There is something fatal about a portrait. It has a life of its own" *The process of developing a photograph consists of five stages; 1 The negative image is projected onto photographic (light-sensitive) paper. 2 The exposed paper is then placed in a chemical 'developer', which makes the image appear 4 The image is then made permanent with a 'fix' chemical 5 The chemicals are then washed off. For black and white photography the above process is carried out in a red lit 'dark room'. The photographic paper is sensitive to all light except red light. Once the paper has been fixed it is no longer slight sensitive and can be viewed in normal light. **Barthes names the different elements in photography as such; 'The Operator' is the photographer 'The Spectator' is us / the viewer 'The Referent' is the subject matter of the photograph / what the photograph represents |
The Picture of Dorian Gray In Oscar Wilde's novel, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' the concept of the death of the image and the Dandy meet. The place that they are introduced is London, and the time is the end of the 19th Century. At the start of the story, the young impressionable Dorian is having his portrait painted by an artist named Basil. Dorian is a beautiful eighteen year-old dandy. During the final sitting for the painting he is introduced to the Decadent Lord Henry, who quickly starts to cast his influence. While Henry plies Dorian with compliments, he is truly enamoured, he speculates on the great pity that one day his youthful looks would be lost. Lord Henry, already middle-aged, makes Dorian aware that his one great gift, his beautiful youth, will not last forever and that he must appreciate it while it lasts. When eventually the painting is finished Basil is very pleased, he and Henry cite it as his best achievement yet, a masterpiece. As Dorian changes from poser to viewer it is as if he sees himself for the first time. "He stood there is motionless wonder,…The sense of his own beauty came on him like a revelation." (Wilde 1891 pg27) But quickly Dorian is distressed. After his brief infatuation with his image on the canvas he remembers what Henry had instilled in him. Seeing his own beauty before him he becomes aware that he will lose it, his face becoming wrinkled and worn, his eyes turn dim, his graceful figure will be broken and deformed. "The life that was to make his soul would mar his body. He would become dreadful, hideous, uncouth. "How sad it is!" Murmured Dorian. "How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. It will never be older than this day of June…If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture could grow old! For that, for that I would give everything! I would give my own soul for that!" (Wilde 1891 pg27) It seems that Dorian is experiencing that first death that Barthes describes. He has become separated from his own image. Seeing his spectre, made solid, his identity mirrored. Immediately following this reaction he realises that this image is not merely a reflection, but an object that possesses all his beauty, but is inanimate. Dorian is suddenly aware of his mortality, his flesh, and his impending decay. Wilde's Dorian is an archetypal dandy, confronted for the first time with his own reality. His passion is heightened by the dandy's love of youth, and he has it, appreciates it, but knows he will lose it. His Beauty is all-important, he would rather be the picture, flat and decorative, an object to be looked at and treasured, than be a real human "I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die. I am jealous of the portrait you have painted of me, why should it keep what I must lose. Every moment that passes takes something from me and gives something to it." (Wilde, 1891 pg28) This is a moment that can never be returned to. Barthes compares the click of a camera to the tick of a clock, "Cameras are clocks for seeing." (Barthes, 1981 pg15) This could explain the dandy's tendency towards the artifice and makeup that hides or detracts from the natural and the real. In 'Dandies', Fillin -Yeh asks whether old dandies exist? She suggests that the dandical façade encourages them. Their artifice and polish can hide signs of ageing perhaps with makeup or fabulous attire. The name given to 'old' dandies is roue, who live a vampiric existence, taking young lovers to maintain the effect of their youth. But as dandies try to stop time affecting themselves, " in no way timeless. Rather they are repositories of time whose bodily appearance is the record of the hours of labour that went into the effect." (Fillin-Yeh, 2001 pg16) This description of repositories of time spent alludes to the process of creating a painting, precisely what Dorian Gray now desires to be. As the story develops, it is the picture that begins to decay. In the 1947 film of the book, this magical occurrence is due to an Egyptian cat statue. This is an interesting link back to the description of Huysmans as being cat-like, for it is his book 'A Rebours', which Henry later gives to Dorian, inspiring his path into decadence. The picture starts to show Dorian's age and the effects of his sin and corruption, though he remains as he did the day the painting was finished. A Victorian myth suggested that ones sins were visible in ones appearance. This now starts to relate to Ulays' photo death, where the viewer could witness the auto decay of the brief perfect image. Dorians' new eternal youth could be compared to that of Dionysus. In Ovid's Metamorphoses he uses the Phrase 'eternal youth' to describe Bacchus (Dionysus). " For thine is unending youth, eternal boyhood,….Thou art the most lovely in the lofty sky; thy face is virgin seeming…" (Ovid Book IV, lines 17ff) Dorian confirms this parallel after Sibil Vane's* death, "Eternal youth, infinite passion, pleasures subtle and secret, wild joys and wilder sins - he was to have all these things. The portrait was to bear the burden of his shame: that was all." (Wilde 1891 pg102) It is this 'eternal youth' and unreality that the dandy strives for. Oscar Wilde wrote of the characters, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry is what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be - in other ages perhaps" (Wilde) Dawson argues that Basil and Henry are both profoundly afraid of reality. Basil, lives his life through his art, and he is both fascinated and afraid of Dorian as he represents his Dionysian side. Henry on the other hand is a dandy with his own theory of decadent individualism. He advises Dorian in his adventures and is in love with his own lost youth. In fact it appears that Henry's theories are rarely put into practice. "Lord Henry never says a moral thing, and never does a thing wrong" (Wilde) Here, I think that we can see Wilde's desires not only for Dorian's youth and beauty, but also his apparent freedom from consequence. *Sibil Vane is a young lady to whom Dorian proposed to be wed.
Perhaps this desire for eternal youth and the artificial is what lies at the heart of the Dandy's need for perfection of appearance. Barthes sees photography as being closer to theatre than other arts by way of one intermediary, Death. He cites the original relationship between the theatre and death as being represented by the first actors who applied make-up. This was seen by the community as: "playing the role of the Dead: to make oneself up was to designate oneself as a body simultaneously living and dead" (Barthes 1981 pg31) Barthes sees Photography as a kind of primitive theatre, "a kind of Tableau Vivant, a figuration of the motionless and made-up face beneath which we see the dead." (Barthes 1981 pg32) Is this also the face of the Dandy? In the case of Brummell, while the regency fashion was for makeup, he chose not to wear it. But even bare faced he was noted for his approximation to a painting. The fin de siecle revival dandies alluding to the regency style were taking on a role. Dressing and behaving like aristocracy, setting themselves apart from the general public, they lived their role terrified of mediocrity and reality. Conclusion While I must admit to being influenced by the style of the original Dandy, I uncovered a deeper link with my work. I began by looking at Beau Brummell and then at Huysmans and Decadence. I established a common link between them, showing the dandy to be overly concerned with appearance, idealistic, repulsed by reminders of reality and above all desirous of the immortality of an image or object. These features are epitomised in the Wildean Dandy. In order to talk about the relationship between the photograph and death I had to establish the link between the image and the referent. Barthes talks extensively about this link, and how the photograph itself becomes invisible and we only see the subject. The function of the photograph is also important as its main uses are to memorialise or document, although it is mortal itself.
Relationship If it is the dandy's desire is to become objectified, an ornament or an image, the dying photograph comes to portray the sad spectacle of the ageing Dandy. The object whose design, purpose and desire is to last forever, to be immortal, dying. Both the photograph and the Dandy develop to a perceived moment of perfection. From this point, although they are designed to stay the same, they decay. A possible inconsistency in this essay is the use of a painting as the picture in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'. The image functions as what should be a permanent representation of Dorian. It also represents the love of the artist for his model. Here the artist is the interpreter of the spectre. Barthes speculates, "If only I could 'come out' on paper as on a classical canvas, endowed with a noble expression - thoughtful intelligent etc.!" (Barthes 1981 pg11) Basil's painting seems to do this for Dorian, enhancing his beauty, which heightens the subject's emotional repose on completion. The emotions of Basil add a layer to the story and a parallel to the author, but the importance for Dorian is the immortal image of himself. This is the context in which I used the picture. Technology has advanced in many ways since the Dandies strove for eternal youth, and since Barthes wrote 'Camera Lucida'. So the question arises as to whether dandies still exist in society? The obvious implication is that todays' dandies are well-dressed fashionable young men. Celebrities perhaps or 'bling bling' culture with its showy pretend wealth. Artists whose body becomes the centre of their practice could also be considered dandical. Gilbert and George realised in the early 1970's that they no longer needed to produce sculptures as they themselves were the artwork. The precision and rigidity of their suits could be compared to Brummell. They carefully choose the cut of their suits as an average of twentieth century styles, so as to be consistent, never in or out of fashion. This means that they would never stand out in a crowd due to their dress. It is however the curious way in which they conduct themselves that gives them an air of unreality. With a stiff posture and angular suits combined with a controlled and seemingly rehearsed speech they become sculpural. (Living Sculptures) They seem to be as present/absent in there photography as the do in reality. In a different way Leigh Bowery could be considered a dandy. His dress, while outrageous, is meticulously designed and produced. What more of 'a personal form of individuality' could there be. Bowery's clothes and body became his art. This is a man who truly "lived to dress, not dressed to live". In his performances at Anthony D'Offrey gallery in London he positioned himself in the window on a stage set. The inside of the window being mirrored, so he could not see his audience, he was free to pose and not interact. Just as Carlyle described the Dandy as wishing simply to be a visual object, Bowery becomes the artwork. The abundance of cameras in today's society presents new challenges. With camera phones previous barriers have disappeared. I remember feeling very self-conscious photographing the interior of a crowded train years ago with a 'Single Lens Reflex' camera. But today a picture could be taken without people realising. Not only this but most people would not care. We are so used to being photographed and filmed repeatedly on cameras everywhere we go, that how could we complain? It is just one more electronic assemblage resembling ourselves. In order to pose for these pictures in the way that Barthes deliberates, composing oneself to be photographed would result in us constantly arranging our outward expression. In order to never give anything away, and to look our best in every shot, to give the right impression of ourselves. "I lend myself to the social game, I pose, I know I am posing, I want you to know that I am posing, but this additional message must in no way alter the precious essence of my individuality" (Barthes 1981) Perhaps this is the point that we all become Dandies.
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