The Nude as Art Work

I love getting photography books as gifts. This year was no different. The one that I received worth a comment is "Nude Visions" from the German art book publishers Kehrer Verlag. Most of the photographs are part of the vast photography collection at the Münchner Stadtmuseum. This book is a catalog of over 200 nude photographs spanning the history of photography and including many great photographers.

At first glance, I was excited to see a collection of photographs that explore the human figure as so many artist have over the millennia. My anticipation was that this volume would take a look at photographs that treated the human form as a beautiful object to be admired and rendered with light and shadow that celebrates the figure. Yes and no.

The book is just what it intends to be; a catalog of nude photographs. Yes, there are many pictures from artists that reproduce images modeled from the great master painters, and many that explore the human form in modern ways (Edward Weston, Willy Zielke, Lucien Clergue). My disappointment comes from the many photographs that are without aesthetics, that are clinical in their presentation of the nude. Photographs taken where the figure might as well be a piece of furniture instead of a beautiful sculptural object. These are the ones I skipped over in search of the unique vision. And, they do exist throughout the book.

The photographs that are true works of art are indeed magnificent. Many are worth spending time studying and enjoying both the art of the image and the form of the figure. There are many photographers that I was not familiar with that had stunning images; Rudolf Lehnert & Ernst Landrock and Franz Grainer from the 1920's, or Marianne J. Leissl from the 1930's. And there were wonderful discoveries; Josef Breitenbach, Ed van der Elsken, and Gerhard Vormwald.

On balance, I rate the book a B. I am glad to have it in my library.

Photo Story and Food

What is the most important thing in your life? For me it is looking at interesting photography and collecting photo books. For my wife it's food. When you combine the two together we have food photography and sometimes cook books with great photography. Recently we found a great book in a used book store that had both, "Memories with Food at Gipsy House" by Felicity & Roald Dahl with photographs by Jan Baldwin (Viking 1991).

This book had both fascinating photography and recipes along with interesting stories about the authors' family life. The photographs were not the typical commercial food shots, but wonderfully arranged foods in settings that made for attractive imagery while at the same time helping to illustrate the stories and recipes. A complete aesthetic experience.

On the other hand, there is "serious food photography!" These are photographs of food as objects or models. Sort of like fashion photography. These photos are designed to make you hungry. You sit there drooling over this amazing photograph of mouth watering food and wonder if it tastes as good as it looks. Now I know from past experience, photographing food is both an art and a craft while at the same time a complete fake.

What I mean, is that there is great skill in preparing the food to be photographed, staged, styled, and lit. The fake part comes from the fact that the food is prepared just to be photographed and not eaten. As a matter of fact, you do not even want to nibble on it unless you want a mouthful of chemicals used to make it all look good. Check out this interesting food photo video.

My preference for food photography is the type used to illustrate the Dahl book. I will be keeping my eye out for more of these books.