THE MUSEUM (2019)

where fine art, fashion and beauty are held together by photography


Project “The Museum” by Elena Levkovskaya and Australian designers and makeup artists is a series of photographs where fine art, fashion and beauty are held together by photography to make a statement - fashion and fashion photography can be an art and furthermore, it is a more complex and elaborate art form that gives us a way to communicate without any words and can touch people’s souls only previously reached by master painters. Inspired by the History of Art.


ANCIENT EGYPT - NEFERTITI


Nefertiti was one of the most mysterious and powerful women in ancient Egypt; an Egyptian Pharaoh. She was known for a religious revolution in which she and her husband worshipped only one god, Aten, or the sun disc.

The Nefertiti Bust is a painted stucco-coated limestone. The work is believed to have been crafted in 1345 B.C. by the sculptor Thutmose. It is one of the most copied works of ancient Egypt.

Our Nefertiti’s look was created with ethical, luxury, handcrafted, one-of-a-kind pieces of jewellery by SCARAB ROUGE in tandem with an exquisite evening gown made from the best Italian fabrics and crystal elements by ELVIGO. The headpiece was specially hand-crafted by the team for this shoot.

ANCIENT GREECE - HERA

The art of Ancient Greece stands out among that of other ancient cultures for its development of naturalistic but idealized depictions of the human body, in which largely nude figures were generally the focus of innovation. From about 500 BC, statues began to depict real people and heroes of Greek mythology.

Hera is the goddess of women, marriage, family, and childbirth in ancient Greek religion and myth, one of the 12 Olympians and the sister-wife of Zeus.

Hera's symbols were the diadem, the sceptre, and the pomegranate - a symbol of fertility. In some Greek dialects, the pomegranate was called rhoa, thought to be connected with the name of the earth goddess Rhea, mother of Hera.

EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN ART

The Early Middle Ages began with the fall of the Roman Empire and ended in the early 11th century. Early medieval art in Europe is an amalgamation of the artistic heritage of the Roman Empire, the early Christian church, and the “barbarian” artistic culture of Northern Europe. Despite the wide range of media, the use of valuable and precious materials is a constant in medieval art. Many artworks feature the lavish use of gold, jewels, expensive pigments, and other precious goods.

Our looks were created with unique golden pieces of jewellery which reference sacred geometry and symbolism by I AM ROCK, a loose-fitting maxi willow dresses by WYATT WYLDE, and sustainable and ethical menswear by A.N.A. EMBODIED. Dominating red, golden, and earthy colours, along with different textures, convey the sophisticated spirit of the era.

GOTHIC IN ARCHITECTURE - NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS

The Notre Dame Cathedral, with its spire, flying buttresses, and ornate rose windows, is a marvel of French Gothic architecture. The Notre-Dame Cathedral is the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages and exemplifies the main contributions of Gothic art to Christian architecture.

During a restoration campaign in 2019, a fire broke out in the cathedral’s attic and the massive blaze destroyed a big part of the cathedral. However, the main rose window survived; that's why we created a gothic art look with I AM ROCK jewellery to remind you to practice truth and vulnerability so that you can ascend. Luxury evening gowns by ELVIGO and creative makeup referencing this stained-glass window only enhance the power of beauty and symbolism.

SANDRO BOTTICELLI - THE BIRTH OF VENUS, 1483 - 1485

Botticelli The Birth of Venus is one of the most famous paintings of the Italian Renaissance depicts the triumphant Goddess of Love and Beauty born out of seafoam.

Channelling the feminine romantic beauty vibe, Venus's look was created with the off-the-shoulder Farrow dress by WYATT WYLDE. Referencing the giant scallop shell, the total look was completed by using unique handmade accessories with seashell elements from Maroubra Beach specially created for the shoot by EIEDEN.Y.

Botticelli paid much attention to Venus' hairstyle, which reflected his interest in the way women wore their long hair in the late 15th century - so did we. The Goddess of the Seasons, wearing the willow dress in sage by WYATT WYLDE, is holding a robe in which to wrap Venus; a beautiful and heavy silver sari where every element was hand-crafted by IRMA C

LEONARDO DA VINCI - MONA LISA, 1503–1506

The Mona Lisa painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci has been described as, "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world."

The Mona Lisa alone is a living enigma: the soul is there, but inaccessible. The painting was among the first portraits to depict the sitter before an imaginary landscape and Leonardo was one of the first painters to use an aerial perspective. This figure of a woman dressed in the Florentine fashion of her day and seated in a visionary, mountainous landscape is a remarkable instance of Leonardo's sfumato technique of soft, heavily-shaded modelling. The Mona Lisa's enigmatic expression, which seems both alluring and aloof, has given the portrait universal fame.

CARAVAGGIO - WITH A BASKET OF FRUITS, 1593

“Boy With a Basket of Fruit” is a still life, but it’s also a portrait created during an early, particularly bohemian phase of Caravaggio’s life. Caravaggio defied boundaries, mixing portraiture with still life and history (with allusions to mythology in the fruit). He gave equal weight to the basket and the figure, breaking the rules for a 16th-century painting.

A beautiful combination of a loose maxi dress by WYATT WYLDE and a Dream ring in gold by I AM ROCK symbolises that our dreams are bigger than us - and a part of our divine plan.

VINCENT VAN GOGH - SMALL BOTTLE WITH PEONIES AND BLUE DELPHINIUMS, 1886

Vincent van Gogh began experimenting with colour in his still-life flower series. By the summer of 1885, the artist created some 40 paintings with a traditional approach, meaning that the flowers were in a vase and placed in the centre of the canvas.

The look was created with an exquisite gown by ELVIGO where every detail and bead creates the image of a delicate flower.

EDGAR DEGAS - DANCER IN FRONT OF A WINDOW, 1887

From his beginnings, Degas seemed equally attracted to the severity of line and to the sensuous delights of colour, echoing a historic tension that was still much debated in his time. Degas himself explained, "no art was ever less spontaneous than mine."

Whenever we see ballerinas in fine artworks we think of Degas. In many subsequent paintings, dancers were shown backstage or in rehearsal, emphasizing their status as professionals doing a job. From 1870, Degas increasingly painted ballet subjects, partly because they sold well and provided him with needed income after his brother's debts had left the family bankrupt.

Our image of a ballerina was created with a custom-made dress by the team specially designed for the shoot, emphasized by delicate hand-made earrings by JEN LINKOVA.

CLAUDE MONET - BRIDGE OVER A POND OF WATER LILIES, 1899

In 1893, Monet purchased land with a pond near his property in Giverny, intending to build something for the pleasure of the eye and for motifs to paint. The result was his water lily garden. In 1899, he began a series of eighteen views of the wooden footbridge over the pond, completing twelve paintings - including the present one - that summer.

Water lilies were the main focus of the painter's artistic production during the last thirty years of his life.

The model is wearing a creation of ELVIGO, a maxi dress with tiny sequins that glittered in the light and reflects the episodes of the water lily series.

GUSTAV KLIMT- PORTRAIT OF ADELE BLOCH-BAUER I, 1903

The mesmerising radiance of Adele Bloch-Bauer’s gaze in Gustav Klimt’s gold-flecked 1907 is a prime example of the artist’s “Golden Style.” Commissioned by her sugar-industrialist husband, Ferdinand took Klimt three years to create and was completed amid speculation that the Austrian artist and his high-society subject were lovers.

"The woman in gold" look was created with a dress in Vietnamese golden silk with golden sewn elements by IRMA C, as well as gold-plated accessories by I AM ROCK that perfectly match the ornamental decoration in the paintings.

WASSILY KANDINSKY - YELLOW-RED-BLUE, 1925

Wassily Kandinsky was born in Moscow in 1866 and is best known for his bold, abstract paintings which celebrate colour and form.

This painting can be divided in half due to how different each of the sides are. The left side has rectangles, squares, and straight lines in bright colours, while the right side features darker colours in various abstract shapes. These two sides show different influences and are meant to create varied emotions in the viewer.

Vivid. Creative. Extraordinary.

PABLO PICASSO - GIRL BEFORE A MIRROR, 1932

Girl Before a Mirror was created in March 1932. Considered to be one of his masterpieces, the painting has elicited varied interpretations of this portrait of Picasso's lover and her reflection.

To emphasize the spring mood, colourful palette of the painting, and tribute to the love for yourself, we have created the look with a striped dress by WYATT WYLDE which says it all.

SALVADOR DALI - FEMALE FIGURE WITH HEAD OF FLOWERS, 1937

Dali was a Spanish Surrealist painter and printmaker, influential for his explorations of subconscious imagery.

In 1935 Dali painted the woman with the head of roses homage to the verse of René Crevel which appeared in the surrealist magazine "Le Minotaure": "But it appears and it is spring. A ball of flowers will serve as his head. His is both the hive and the bouquet..."

This beautiful phytomorphic creature expresses both grace and femininity. The look was created with a luxury ELVIGO sequin gown and hand-crafted headpiece, where every petal was specially created for the shoot by the team.

REBECCA TRAJKOVSKI - THE BOARD, 2018 

This award-winning Sydney artist, who came to the art world from a male-dominated industry, transforms her experience of working in the corporate world as a practising lawyer – as well as of those around her - into extraordinary portraits. Her colour choices are bold and matured.

The Board (series 3) is part of Rebecca’s series reflecting on male-dominated boardrooms in corporations.

Understanding the feminist issues, we recreated one of Rebecca's artworks from the Board series and changed the main character to a woman who looks ahead with confidence, is heard, equally treated, and sees her future brightly and clearly.

You also may be interested in:

Exhibition 2019

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Behind the Scenes

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