Norma Shearer




I don't know a whole lot about Norma Shearer, who made films from the early Twenties through to the early Forties. A bit before my time I am glad to say! But I came across a book on her in a local Op Shop thinking one day I might be able to use bits of it in a montage. A couple of images, the first a very contrived studio publicity shot from 1925, and two stills from the 1924 film Empty Hands. It would appear from the book that this was about as sexy as Norma was ever going to get, but I wanted to share with you a few lines from a review written about this film by Morduant Hall in the New York Times the same year the film was released:

"Miss Shearer's eyes are really beautiful, and, as her hair is not curled according to movie fashion, she is quite pleasing in this film. She seems to be a good swimmer when in the water and is evidently conscious that her ankles are by no means ungainly. Her eyebrows deserved at least two words of praise".

Good on you Mordy! They don't review like that any more...but remember that the 'talkies' didn't start til 1927, so we can allow some latitude here (maybe)...

Tony's Taj

Bob Georgeson, Tony's Taj, 2012, Photomontage

Part six of the Bega deconstructed project, and the last in this series (at least for the moment). Next month we get back to more international themes...

Blue Grid

Bob Georgeson, Blue Grid, 2012, Photomontage

anonymous waves



UPDATE (March 1 2014) Since this article was first published the blog known as Bob Georgeson has been transformed into the anonymous waves website, therefore some of the ideas have been superseded and the links below may no longer work. The article has been left intact for archival reasons.

a visual poem inspired by Francis Picabia, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Thierry De Mey...

Just click on each image to take you through...

Images are a combination of my work and others sourced through the Wikimedia Commons website, and posted here under the GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license public domain 'copyleft' principles.

The Other Side


Bob Georgeson, Self Portrait at 62, 2012, Photomontage


Well, the medications finally kicked in and things seem OK. For those of you that are into self-medication I find a 2009 McLaren Vale Shiraz about as good as it's going to get. I have noticed a predisposition for artists to do self portraits lately, and have previously commented on the LARGER THAN LIFE SIZE sort, so here is my small offering...

PS The glasses I found in the Uniting Church Op shop in Narooma...had to find some excuse to use them...

The Pearl

A bit of a lull in posts this month while I have been working on a blog based interactive visual poem, which I hope will be of interest to someone other than myself! The old contradiction of an introvert baring their soul to a world wide audience. Ho hum...

Meanwhile, an oldy that was done after a long period of inactivity, and spurred me on to stop ****cking about and make some stuff...and to actually keep it rather than the usual destroying it in a fit of depression. It's OK folks...don't worry, the medications working...everything will be alright tomorrow...

Bob Georgeson, The Pearl, 2003?, Photomontage

God moves in a mysterious way


I came across this nun doll in an church opportunity shop. Anglican surprisingly. Now I don't collect dolls (well, not many) but I have never seen one like this before. Who made it and why? Was it a gift (to a child)? An attempt to determine ones path in life? And how many nuns do you see wearing lipstick and mascara? Who knows...but for $4 it had to become part of my collection of curiosities...

I shudder to think that it might have been a plaything for a cardinal...

Extase


Ecstasy was made in Czechoslovakia by director Gustav Machaty in 1933. It starred a young actress called Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, later to become Hedy Lamarr in Hollywood. The film is perhaps best known for it's nude scene, and while not the first film to show nudity, it is considered the first to depict intercourse and a woman having an orgasm. During the early days of censorship in American film it was banned for "violation of the Production Code. This violation is suggested by the basic story...in that it is a [story] of illicit love and frustrated sex, treated in detail without sufficient compensating moral values..."

The reality is that it is one of the most moral tales imaginable, and by today's standards far from explicit. But that is not why I am writing this. Having recently watched the film again it struck me that is a masterful lesson in film making. Virtually a silent movie, every frame is there for a purpose and that is to tell the story. It is beautifully written, paced, lit and acted. A wonderful example of how simplicity of approach can still be capable of expressing the most complex of human emotions...

Mother Superior

Another from The Brides of Christ series...

Bob Georgeson, Mother Superior, 2009, Photomontage

Electric Woolies

Part 5 of the Bega deconstructed project...revisiting the scene of the architectural crime that is the new Woolworth's complex...

Bob Georgeson, Electric Woolies, Auckland St, Bega, 2 Sept. 2012