gaba girl and the uncanny valley

cynthia: the mannequin who became a superstar

cynthia: cast with legs forever chastely crossed.  her maker, artist lester gaba took her everywhere in the new york night scene.  she was a famous socialite in-and-of-herself and, after life magazine featured her in a spread, she became a household name.  she must have only attended events where one could sit the duration.

"among all the psychical uncertainties that can become a cause for the uncanny feeling to arise, there is one in particular that is able to develop a fairly regular, powerful and very general effect: namely, doubt as to whether an apparently living being really is animate and, conversely, doubt as to whether a lifeless object may not in fact be animate – and more precisely, when this doubt only makes itself felt obscurely in one’s consciousness." 

on the psychology of the uncanny, 1906

ernst jentsch

LIFE archive: gjon mili

mili photographs picasso drawing with light.  astonishing.

soviet circus life

source: english russia

LIFE archive: nina leen

from the august 23, 1943, issue of LIFE and a story about "amateur vs. professional ways of achieving a summer coiffure."

from a story on the Ringling Bros. Circus in the April 4, 1949, issue of LIFE. the caption for this picture: "Nothing but circus all day every day is the happy fate of these two performers' tots, who sit around the big tent watching as the pretty Miss Lola practices on a tightwire and an acrobat balances an odd contraption on his feet."

Read more: http://life.time.com/photographers/photographer-spotlight-nina-leen/#ixzz1tkt8ih4n

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'suburban boundaries' by photographer david malan

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hopi, tolowa, and tewa women photographed by edward curtis

Woman's primitive dress--Tolowa. Date: c1923. Summary: Ada Lopez Richards, full-length portrait, standing near the shore wearing hat, necklaces, and dress. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The fruit gatherers. Date C: c1905. Summary: Two Tewa girls picking fruit with basket, bowls on the ground. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

East Mesa girls--Hopi. Date: c1906. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 

Tewa girls. Date: c1900. Summary: Two Tewa girls standing outside pueblo building. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Saguaro gatherers, Maricopa tribe Date: 1907, c1907. Summary: Three Maricopa women with baskets on their heads, standing by Saguaro cacti. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

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man ray et les femmes artistes

Lee Miller

Paris

circa 1929

Bronislava Nijinska

Paris

circa 1922

Karin van Leyden

(Karin Elisabeth Kluth)

Paris

circa 1929

Denise Tual

Paris

circa 1935

Jacqueline Goddard

Paris

circa 1930

Nusch Éluard

Paris

circa 1935

Nancy Cunard

Paris

circa 1925

Man Ray Portraits – Paris, Hollywood, Paris 1921–1976
From the Man Ray Archives of Centre Pompidou Paris
ed. by Clément Chéroux, Schirmer/Mosel.

LIFE archive: hell's gals

the lady loves of the hell's angels

LIFE archives: rock stars and their folks

The Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick poses with her mother, Virginia Wing, in the living room of the home where she grew up in Palo Alto, California in 1970. 
Read more: http://life.time.com/culture/rock-stars-and-their-parents/#ixzz1tl0MLkHu

Frank Zappa in his eclectic Los Angeles home with his cat, his dad Francis, and his mom Rosemarie in 1970
Read more: http://life.time.com/culture/rock-stars-and-their-parents/#ixzz1tkzYJPm5

September 24, 1971 issue, LIFE