SUGAR WITH ELEPHANT
One can spot an obvious reference to Richard Avedon’s “Dovima with the Elephants” (1955) — one of photography’s most enduring images, mostly because it’s a dreamy portrait of total narcissism.
Like “Dovima” (aka Dorothy Juba), Dallas nightclub hostess “Sugar” (aka Michael Richardson) is a figure of veritable slenderness. She’s posing like a ballerina who’s channeling the Queen of the Nile.
“Sugar with Elephant” also features an Ice Age relic that most North Texans might not recognize: It’s “Jumbo,” Tom Tischler’s sculpture that guards the Museum of Nature & Science in Fair Park. Unveiled on May 20, 1989, “Jumbo” weighs 15,000 pounds, stands 13-and-a- half feet high and is 26-feet long. Tischler is from Duncanville, Texas, and specializes in bronze wildlife subjects. Jumbo started as a wax sculpture, which was covered with fire-resistant material and placed in a furnace until the wax melted. The resulting mold was filled with bronze, then broken away to leave the sculpture.
In 1989, “Jumbo” was Tischler’s largest project. This particular statue is modeled after a mammoth skeleton found at a South Dallas excavation that was reassembled and displayed in the museum’s Prehistoric Texas Hall. This particular breed — perhaps an imperial or Colombian mammoth — roamed through what passed in those days for the Trinity River bottom, about 10,000 years ago.
Avedon regarded “Dovima with the Elephants” as a failure because he was meticulous about capturing the gown just so. After the session was over, Avedon realized that he should have had sash blowing out, perhaps sailing through the air with the help of a fan.
In this photo, Sugar’s sash rests a hair’s breadth from a puddle....
MICHAEL RICHARDSON | STYLIST: CHARLES YUSKO.
LOCATION: TOM TISCHLER’S ‘JUMBO’ SCULPTURE AT FAIR PARK’S MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE.
PRODUCTION DATE: JAN. 23, 2010 | PHOTO: BRYAN AMANN | DIRECTION: DANIEL KUSNER
Like “Dovima” (aka Dorothy Juba), Dallas nightclub hostess “Sugar” (aka Michael Richardson) is a figure of veritable slenderness. She’s posing like a ballerina who’s channeling the Queen of the Nile.
“Sugar with Elephant” also features an Ice Age relic that most North Texans might not recognize: It’s “Jumbo,” Tom Tischler’s sculpture that guards the Museum of Nature & Science in Fair Park. Unveiled on May 20, 1989, “Jumbo” weighs 15,000 pounds, stands 13-and-a- half feet high and is 26-feet long. Tischler is from Duncanville, Texas, and specializes in bronze wildlife subjects. Jumbo started as a wax sculpture, which was covered with fire-resistant material and placed in a furnace until the wax melted. The resulting mold was filled with bronze, then broken away to leave the sculpture.
In 1989, “Jumbo” was Tischler’s largest project. This particular statue is modeled after a mammoth skeleton found at a South Dallas excavation that was reassembled and displayed in the museum’s Prehistoric Texas Hall. This particular breed — perhaps an imperial or Colombian mammoth — roamed through what passed in those days for the Trinity River bottom, about 10,000 years ago.
Avedon regarded “Dovima with the Elephants” as a failure because he was meticulous about capturing the gown just so. After the session was over, Avedon realized that he should have had sash blowing out, perhaps sailing through the air with the help of a fan.
In this photo, Sugar’s sash rests a hair’s breadth from a puddle....
MICHAEL RICHARDSON | STYLIST: CHARLES YUSKO.
LOCATION: TOM TISCHLER’S ‘JUMBO’ SCULPTURE AT FAIR PARK’S MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE.
PRODUCTION DATE: JAN. 23, 2010 | PHOTO: BRYAN AMANN | DIRECTION: DANIEL KUSNER