As we read about some "Manikins of Death" over at THOIA, let us now take a look at a decapitated mannequin head here at AEET, or more precisely, a vintage 1930's - 40's millinery shop display counter head. Made of plaster and originally used to sell and promote everything that fashionable ladies wore on theirs heads and necks: jewelry, hats, scarves, etc... and unlike the other counter heads in my collection, this one even came with a super tall, pillar style stand. A wonderful find in good 'ol Hermann, MO last week, and very much within my spending range for once, though the original price tag had her listed as a "Jean Harlow Head." Hmmm... while the platinum locks certainly do compare to mean Jean's blonde bombshell coloring, the face actually looks nothing like her to me. I mean, if the hair was painted any other color I doubt anyone would even think of Harlow. So, whomever you personally believe you see in that fab face, don't look too closely, because another troubling issue arises-- the eyes are painted like crap! From a distance everything looks okay, but up close those eyes need some immediate, serious fixing. And same goes for those disembodied top eyelashes that appear to be scurrying away from her socket regions! Oh well, once she gets a more subtle, upgrade blended air brushing, I will certainly share the pictures... please stay tuned for further developements!
2 comments:
It looks like someone sculpted the face having only seen a picture of Jean Harlow from a magazine. All the same, the face is well sculpted, even if it has only a slight appearance of Jean Harlow
Whoever painted the eyes and eyelashes must have been expected to do a rush job, good enough and quick enough to get their pay.
Even if the eyes and eyelashes are less than perfect, it is still a nice sculpt and a nice find.
I’m certain this was NOT originally sculpted to actually be Jean Harlow. That was just the previous seller tagging it as a selling point. I’ve seen pix of this same head with the original paint job and it looks like (as I hinted at in my intro) just a generic female counter head… hair variate's between blonde and browns. This was clearly repainted at some point because these things get really banged up over the years from not only customers, but also fast paced employees at the shops they are utilized in.
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