News Item
Men seldom make passes
At girls who wear glasses
- Dorothy Parker
Pictured top: Sunshades, 2026, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 25.5 cm.
Like the painting Nightshade, the focus of my previous post, the point of origin of Sunshades is a supporting character in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 Film Noir, Strangers on a Train - in this case, Barbara Morton, as played by Patricia Hitchcock, real life daughter of the film’s director.
In contrast to the subject of Nightshade, however, my protagonist has undergone a complete transformation - from a “good girl” and possible victim of strangulation to a fully-fledged Femme Fatale.
My reimagined portrait draws in part from Pat Hitchcock’s hairstyle in the film and also aims to indicate something of her character’s considerable smarts and feisty personality.
Despite Barbara Morton’s innate decency, the murky underbelly of society appears to hold a certain fascination for her. As part of her metamorphosis in Sunshades, Barbara’s conservative spectacles have been replaced by a racy pair of heart-shaped sunglasses. Like the spectacles showcased in Nightshade, the ‘Lolita’ glasses are based on a pair in my collection, sourced many years ago in a favourite vintage market, Chapel Street Bazaar.
For the Femme Fatale, sunglasses are more than a mere fashion accessory or useful means of disguise. Most crucially, they enable her to mask her true feelings from the hapless hero, concealing her diabolical intentions from him.
Sunshades evokes two of cinema’s most infamous temptresses. If anyone wore sunglasses better than Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity (Dir. Billy Wilder, 1944), or Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven (Dir. John M. Stahl, 1945), I’d like to know about it.
Sunshades is from the current series, Flowers of the Femmes Fatales. The white Calla Lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica), in the form of drop earrings, is my protagonist’s floral attribute.
To see developmental views of Sunshades, go HERE and scroll down.
