$25 each, proceeds benefit Livermore Valley Opera
16" x 12"
Carolyn Lord created the image for Livermore Valley Opera’s 2008 “CARMEN” poster, and was inspired by the imagery of California artist, Maynard Dixon, (1875-1946) and the “Marlboro Man” (1954)
Maynard Dixon was a San Francisco artist and illustrator best known for his images of the west; the land, the indigenous Americans, and the cowboys. His illustrations were published in novels, as book covers, in magazines, and newspapers, such as “Overland Monthly”, “San Francisco Chronicle”, and “Sunset”. In the final decades of his life, Dixon painted his poetic vision of Arizona, Utah, and Nevada’s desert landscapes with the deep shadows and expansive skies. The figures in his paintings were often solitary, and placed in the foreground, overseeing the vast desert below.
The advertising icon of the “Marlboro Man” was conceived by Chicago’s Leo Bennett, who also created other icons such as “Tony the Tiger”, and the “Jolly Green Giant.”. The “Marlboro Man” was an unencumbered and independent man, visually depicted as a rugged cowboy silhouetted in the western landscape, with horses and cattle. This image captured the unspoken desire to escape the suburban conformity that was synonymous with the post-war era of the 1950’s. This advertising campaign was immediately successful and made Marlboro the top selling cigarette brand for men and women for decades.
Merging the imageryof Dixon’s work and the “Marlboro Man”, Carolyn Lord
placed the silhouette of a woman, smoking, overlooking the landscape. This represents Carmen, the most notorious cigarette factory worker of Seville. Her body is feminine, but not frail. Carmen is solid, self-determined, and equal to every man and challenge she meets. The full moon hovering over the mountains is symbolic of Carmen at her fullest gravitational power. The opera “Carmen” tells her story, to the dramatic and deathly confrontation with Don Jose in Act IV. Less dramatic, but more tragic, Maynard Dixon died of a heart attack, after a lifetime of asthma acerbated by cigarette smoking. Wayne McLaren, photography model for the “Marlboro” ads, smoked cigarettes and after renouncing tobacco, died of lung cancer.