Nude Photography: Masterpieces from the Past 150 Years - Softcover

Richter, Peter-Cornell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3791319981 ISBN 13: 9783791319988

Publisher: Prestel Pub, 1998

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Review:

This impeccable collection of mostly black-and-white masterworks from the last 150 years includes many familiar images, from Edward Steichen's Little Round Mirror, in which a soft-focus model strikes the classic contrapposto pose, to Man Ray's Violon d'Ingres, the long female seen from behind with that instrument's curve gracefully drawn on her back. But so many of the nudes of the last 150 years that are indelibly imprinted in our memories are missing: Weston's studies of his young son, or Imogen Cunningham's self-portraits in old age, or Brassaï's titillating shots of French prostitutes' derrieres, or Robert Mapplethorpe's black men. Rather than an inclusive compendium, this book is a kind of dreamy boy's book from another era, a semi-innocent collection of (mainly) breasts that any intelligent, sentimental male with an eye for feminine pulchritude will enjoy. With the exception of a little light bondage in David Levinthal's Desire series or a characteristically kinky moment from Duane Michals, this is almost a book you could tuck into the family art library.

Peter-Cornell Richter supplies a poetic description of each picture, deftly inserting a great deal of historical information in an affectionate, confidential tone. There are many memorable photographs, but one of the most illuminating is of the Modigliani model Jeanne Hébuterne. Her reclining body is the central subject of the shadowy image, but her face is arresting for its pronounced curves, tiny chin, and elongated nose and cheeks. Readers who have never seen her before will be struck at the reality Modigliani simply captured, when all along we thought he was working in the realm of abstract distortion.

A note: Of the 62 photographers represented here, 90 percent are men; of the 62 models used, 98 percent are women. --Peggy Moorman

Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

About this edition

• Publisher: Prestel Pub
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 3791319981
• ISBN 13: 9783791319988
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 136