Skin & Bones: Spooky Perfume Ads, with Jessica Murphy (online)

Perfume doesn’t always have to be sweetness and light—in fact, it’s often more interesting when it has a shadowy side. The same goes for perfume advertising. In this presentation, we’ll take a closer look at a selection of mysterious and macabre perfume ads. How does each one bring out the sinister side of scent—through language, visual strategies, cultural references, or other tactics? Is the scare-factor sincere or humorous? And why does the evocation of an eerie aroma hold such a strange power over us? Join us to consider these images and issues…and don’t be afraid of the dark.

Join art historian and fragrance writer Jessica Murphy for a close look at perfume advertising with a sinister edge in an online lecture at The Institute for Art and Olfaction.

IMPORTANT NOTES

This class will take place online, on Zoom.

For people attending live: Please look out for an email from us about 24 hours before class starts, which will contain Zoom log-in information and the class handouts. We will share the video for this class with registered participants for 3 days after it takes place.

For people who sign up for the video-only option: We will share the handouts and the video *after* the class takes place, and it will be available for three days after class.

ABOUT JESSICA MURPHY

Jessica Murphy has been writing about fragrance online since 2007 at the leading perfume blog Now Smell This and her own blog, Perfume Professor. Since 2015 she has taught and lectured about fragrance through organizations including the Brooklyn Brainery, Think Olio, the Brooklyn Museum, the Society for the Advancement of Social Studies, and the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. Her approach is interdisciplinary and multi-sensory, combining perfume history, art history, and popular culture.

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Image credits Jessica Murphy: Jeffrey Vock Photography

Image credit illustration: "The Bewitching Hour" cosmetics advertisement, 1920 isssue of Delineator. In the Public Domain via the Internet Archive.

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ATTENDANCE AND REFUND POLICY

This is an online class that will take place on Zoom. The Zoom link will be sent by email approximately 24 hours before the class. Lest this email end up in your spam folder, please be sure to add hello@artandolfaction.com to your address book.

+ Event times are listed in Pacific Time (PDT); please use a time converter for your local start time.

+ Please download and install Zoom before the class starts, to avoid last minute technical issues.

+ We will share the video for this session after class ends, viewable for 3 days.

+ Unfortunately, we cannot offer refunds or credit once you have signed up. Please do not sign up unless you are sure you can attend.