Using fine-art images to promote movies

January 4, 2006 8:22 PM

Using fine-art images to promote movies: "But it was Mr. Kessell's "Florilegium" (or "collection of floral images") daguerrotypes that caught Mr. Palen's eye: each image is close-up of a surgical instrument, so poetically rendered that it seems almost organic. Some of the macabre implements resemble exotic flowers. One, from a distance, could be mistaken for the horns of a gazelle. "We were sort of blocked, and all the pieces fell into place once I saw that image," Mr. Palen explained. A deal was made to use that daguerreotype [to promote the upcoming Tarantino-produced film "Hostel"], which actually shows a surgical clamp. [The poster] now appears in theaters and on widespread promotions. [Side: direct WMV link of Tarantino spazing out while introducing "Hostel's" director Eli Roth at a festival.]
posted by JPowers (12 comments total)

Really interesting. Thank you. ( Although I do wish the Times piece had linked to the Rosemary's Baby poster they were referring to instead of the American version.)
posted by jrossi4r at 8:56 PM on January 4, 2006

I wouldn't have guessed it was a fine art image. It reminds me of the Saw II poster.
posted by smackfu at 9:12 PM on January 4, 2006

What does "fine art" even mean anymore?
posted by delmoi at 9:16 PM on January 4, 2006

What does "fine art" even mean anymore?

What did it ever mean?
posted by JPowers at 9:27 PM on January 4, 2006

Couldn't access the whole Tarantino bits, but I love the botanical photography. I'm thinking of buying several books by http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/102-5477918-5278568?url=index%3Dblended&field-keywords=karl+blossfeldt&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go
posted by theperfectcrime at 9:40 PM on January 4, 2006

Woops, Karl Blossfeldt
posted by theperfectcrime at 9:42 PM on January 4, 2006

sorry, on first glance they really looked like botanical photos. Color me inattentive.
posted by theperfectcrime at 10:02 PM on January 4, 2006

The Making of a Daguerreotype using the good old fashioned, highly toxic, hazmat-alert method. More details and images at Mirror with a Memory.

The Library of Congress has an online collection of over 700 daguerrotypes, including the earliest known portraits of Abraham Lincoln.
posted by cenoxo at 10:21 PM on January 4, 2006

This remind me of the gynecological metal sculptures in the unbelievably creepy Kronenberg film Dead Ringers. Excuse me, I have to go look at pictures of puppies now.
posted by tula at 11:35 PM on January 4, 2006

Cronenberg.
posted by tula at 11:36 PM on January 4, 2006

The Library of congress needs the metanerds parachuted in to sort that site out , its not easy to navigate at all.
posted by sgt.serenity at 2:25 AM on January 5, 2006

I saw a presentation about 18-century medical texts a few years back. The instruments were presented in a similar fashion (though not photographically, of course). It seems the intent was to show the instruments as beautiful and benign. Even the illustrations of the instruments in use were peaceful and beautiful--you know, amputations, some sort of prostate removal, a mastectomy. Surgeons were trying to clean up their image, I guess.
posted by MrMoonPie at 7:16 AM on January 5, 2006