Top Ten #10 - When the Light Goes. By Larry McMurtry and Stephen King

Not every much photographed beauty becomes a muse. In fact we seem to be somewhat short of muses at the moment, at least compared to the 30s and 40s and subjects like Lee Miller, Charis Weston, Lisa Fonnsagrives, and Eleanor Callahan, not to mention the movie stars photographed by Hurrell, Bull, etc.. But if I were to identify the muses of our time they would have to be Jessie Mann and Kate Moss.


Jessie, as most people know, came to fame as one of Sally Mann's extraordinarily striking family. Jessie has written about how hard it was to be so much and so controversially in the public eye, but re-emerged a few years ago to begin a collaboration with Len Prince in which she is both the subject and co-author of the images. A show of their recent work just opened at the Fay Gold Gallery in Atlanta. Here is a picture that's so new it's not even in the show, but combines the best of three worlds - Jessie's art direction, Prince's photographic skill, and the updated classical/pictorial tradition begun by mama Sally.



Kate (who I'll try to refrain from writing about too often) has a presence that seems to inspire most every photographer she works with to great heights. There is something inherently non-commercial in her look so that pictures of her appear more like personal work than advertising or editorial, and she's never vain. Anyway, here are a 1996 Irving Penn shot and a 1994 Paolo Roverso polaroid both coming up for sale tomorrow at Phillips in London. The Penn is estimated at $30,000 - $40,000 and the Roversi at $3,000 - $5,000 - which would certainly qualify as my steal of the week.