Silence, Please!

Since 1977, the annual The San Francisco Decorator Showcase, the West Coast's premiere design showhouse event, has benefited San Francisco University High School's financial aid program, raising nearly $11.5 million in its 34 years. The San Francisco Decorator Showcase allows San Francisco University High School to offer financial aid to its students. It is through the community's continued support that quality education has been made available over the past three decades to hundreds of deserving Bay Area students.

The 2013 Decorator Showcase, located at 2800 Broadway Avenue at Divisadero Street, will be open from April 27 to May 27, 2013.
 

As in the past, Dolldom and Ernesto Padró-Campos Photography are proud to support the Decorator Showcase once again with a donation to its Silent Auction.

This year’s portfolio features two framed prints that celebrate the sempiternal beauty of the iconic sculpt first used in the creation of the Bild Lilli doll and later in vintage Barbie dolls from 1959-1966. This is a face that still mesmerizes, intrigues, and shocks. This highly stylized representation of a human face boasts a tiny pointy nose, cantilevering eyelash ridges that partially hide side glancing eyes, and an enigmatic closed mouth. This is an image of femininity that although graphically minimal, conveys intensity and strength of temperament. But is this the characterization of a seductress or that of a teen-age fashion model? Regardless of what your reaction or your associations may be, it is difficult not to fall under the spell of this modern age sphinx.


In Heaven Above is a  close up study of a mint American Girl Barbie doll by Mattel, circa 1965, that invites the viewer to marvel at the smooth beauty of mold-injected vinyl. 16” X 19” archival print, matted and framed.


In My Eyes is another close-up study of a handmade and painted Lilli Lalka doll, circa 2013, created by British artist Julian Kalinowski using the original Hong Kong Lilli molds used for manufacture in the 1960s. 16” X 19” archival print, matted and framed.

These photos speak of the impact of a raised eyebrow, of sleep eyes, of blood red lips, of saturated make-up, of platinum white hair. These are faces that define beauty as something other than pretty and demure and that present a distinct view (and a powerful one while at it) of mid-century standards of feminine beauty.