Beauty Packaging Staff07.27.20
The Makeup Museum has digitally preserved Kevyn Aucoin's historic journals.
Seven original journals from legendary makeup artist are now preserved through an extensive digital archive. Aucoin was 40 years old when he passed away in 2002.
Doreen Bloch, executive director and co-founder of the Makeup Museum, says, "Kevyn Aucoin continues to inspire generations of makeup artists, and it has been an honor to lead the effort to preserve his personal journals."
Aucoin kept the journals from 1983 through 1994 -- when he worked with iconic photographers, such as Steven Meisel, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Peter Lindbergh, Herb Ritts, and Francesco Scavullo -- and supermodels Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Paulina Porizkova.
He also worked with celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Tina Turner, and Liza Minnelli. Journal images include behind-the-scenes images from photoshoots for Vogue magazine and brands, including Shiseido, Chanel, and Revlon.
Full-page images from the journals have never been published before, and the polaroid images therein represent one-of-a-kind images from photoshoots with the world's most iconic photographers like Avedon, Penn, Meisel and more. See him with Tina Turner and Peter Lindbergh below.
Shown above are two lipstick kiss swatches -- "the only surviving pieces of actual makeup in Kevyn Aucoin's journals," the Makeup Museum posted on Instagram. "The kisses placed on thin paper are affixed to the journal entry date May 19, 1993, making them over 27 years old," the post says.
Preserving Kevyn Aucion's Memories -- and a Historic Time in Beauty History
Aucoin maintained scrapbook-like journals to document his meetings, contacts, career highlights, and personal milestones. Seven journals, one each from 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1994, and two from 1993, had been lovingly stored by his family.
Because of the challenges with conservation of paper-based documents, the Makeup Museum worked with the family to create a digital archive of the journals to ensure the preservation of this important set of historical artifacts.
Samantha Adkisson, Kevyn Aucoin's niece says, "The journals are so special because they show what was important to him. He loved what he did and he loved the friends he made along the way."
She continues, "It feels to me that he documented everything because he was so in awe of the life he was living, and he might need to glance back for a pinch me moment when he doubted if it was all real. We are so grateful to the Makeup Museum for digitizing these journals. The process of preserving them alone is very difficult, so the Makeup Museum was a blessing in this endeavor."
Bloch adds, "While we cannot yet open our doors in New York City, our efforts to preserve makeup historical artifacts and share makeup history gems with the public is core to our mission to educate, inspire and celebrate all things beauty."
The Makeup Museum will showcase exclusive images from the new Kevyn Aucoin digital journal archive on Instagram and in its newly launched Makeup Museum mobile app on Apple iOS.
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