Black girl with a pearl earring

This post is about the pastiche I’ve made on Johannes Vermeer’s iconic painting from around 1665 of a Girl With AΒ Pearl Earring. There is both an interesting discussion about how it was – perhaps – painted and a movie inspired by the painting.

girl_with_a_pearl_earring

And there is a discussion, of course, about who the girl is, or could have been – nobody seems to know. Was it Vermeer’s daughter Maria – who was likely also a gifted painter – was it a maid in the house, a lover?

It is a pastiche – defined by Wikipedia as “a work of visual art, literature, or music that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche celebrates, rather than mocks, the work it imitates.” So it neither reproduces in details, nor satirizes. It’s an inspiration, perhaps an homage and it is, above all, eclectic – using elements known from here and there and putting them together but, simultaneously, offering the viewer something that has references to another work of art. It borrows freely and can beΒ see also asΒ a hodgepodge.

It is a challenge you set yourself. The black womanΒ in this seriesΒ doesn’t want her name mentioned but was once a student of mine.Β I too have neverΒ done something “staged” like this before.

Placing a black woman where a very pail white girl originally sits is, in and of itself, an attempt to make a point: Yes, it was a European artistic style but it can be “globalised” and it can build bridges. Mona Lisa, Venus – most of the iconic images in Western art – are white. But they don’t have to be. On the famous other hand, I do not want to imitate the element of “exotic beauty” depicted in some more or less “colonialist”-inspired Western artists.

Additionally, Vermeer has painted the girl slightly from above. In my images, the woman’s face is atΒ the same level as the camera. The way we look up or down on the subject of an image can speak volumes about class, gender, values and culture.

Another challenge was to use what was at hand. There were no detailed preparations. A friend who happens to be an art lover thought it would beΒ fun to place her living room at our disposal forΒ the shooting and also hadΒ a couple of standard lamps, a lovely big wooden door, mirrors, paintings on the wall, etc. What more could one want? We did all the pictures – some 300Β – in one go, a Sunday with the sun pouring in through large windows.

Vermeer’s background is monochrome black, absolutely nothing happening there. No story, no references to a room. And by the way, hisΒ original background, it has been revealed by research, was monochrome darkΒ green. So one of the images we did has, afterwards, been given a dark green background – if not monochrome sepia-toned – to convey the same sense of face-only appearance. But in the rest we make use ofΒ the environment.

Jamel With A Pearl Earring # 3, 2014 Β© Jan Oberg 2014
Black GirlΒ With A Pearl Earring # 3, 2014 Β© Jan Oberg 2014

The womanΒ did the makeup the way she wanted it and she provided a simple “turban”-like headscarf and – most importantly – the earring (which perhaps is not a real pearl…). I happened to have a short-type Japanese silk kimono which actually comes quite close to the originalΒ in its texture.Β We borrowed a fine large white napkin to illustrate the Vermeer girl’s white shirt, alternatively that she is a maid with a napkin on her shoulder.

That done, we did various experiments with the place, background, lightning, position and where the eyes would seem to be looking. The Vermeer girl seems to me to be slightly cross-eyed, even if very little. And, most importantly, she does not focus on the painter. She is not in contact with the viewer, more like looking somewhere further away, perhaps day-dreaming.

We could have chosen to imitate that look butΒ I wantedΒ something more intense; I wanted the black girl to be distinctly present and give the impression that she knows that she is being seen. The fact that she looks straight at the viewer offers a more personal relationship, a richer interpretative spectrum which is not unimportant because it is a contemporary image: We may be able to better imagine what she is thinking because she is from our world and our time.

We can anyhow not guessΒ much about what a girl would be thinking in 1665 about her situation. This womanΒ is very expressive in my view and it would be a loss ofΒ energy to let her look somewhat emptily at a wall behind me when taking the pictures. So, there you go: She speaks to you but what she expresses is for you to guess, or feel.

A door in a picture is always somewhat enigmatic: is the person going out and why? What is there on the other side? -In this case we can vaguely sense the countours of a lamp and some curtains in aΒ – dark – room but also a ray of light falling on its floor.

Jamel With A Pearl Earring # 6, 2014 Β© Jan Oberg 2014
Black GirlΒ With A Pearl Earring # 6, 2014 Β© Jan Oberg 2014

Or, is sheΒ is about to go out but anyhow turning her head as if asking: Shall I stay? That is at least one way to interpret her facial expression in the images where sheΒ is at the door. Hung over aΒ chair to your right is aΒ shirt or waistcoat indicatingΒ both that there has been or is another person involved andΒ thatΒ the image could be shot inΒ a living room or perhaps a bedroom, the chest under the painting pointing perhaps in the same direction.

Is she about to leave – or to not actually leave – someone in that room? The light is sensually warm and theΒ shape of the knobs of the small chairΒ left ofΒ the chest may be seen as suggestive of a male presence in that room. It’s all up to the viewer but, for sure, there is more to this type of photography than meets the eye.

And it was fun to do. So we shotΒ other images too. Please see the series of 7 images here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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