The Fourth Body by Roy Stuart.
Published by Taschen ISBN-10: 3822825573
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Following on from the success of his previous collections, "Roy Stuart", "Roy Stuart: Vol 2" and Roy Stuart: Vol 3", the 'The Fourth Body' arrives, from publishers Taschen, for our perusal. Stuart is an American photographer, who lives and works in Paris, and those familiar with his previous books will know what to expect - stylised erotic imagery featuring natural, unshaven models (body hair is a given in Stuart's work) in photographs that appear as if from scenes from a film or whose subjects have been caught 'in flagrante delicto' and knowing references to the 'vocabulary' of pornography and glamour photography.
'The Fourth Body' takes this cinematic approach to the final stage as many of the images are indeed stills from a film or shot alongside the making of a film. Stuart has recently moved into film making and some of the images and text are from his film 'The Lost Door'. As with his previous collections - Stuart again uses luxury hotels/apartments and the street of Paris as locations for his photographs.
'The Fourth Body' opens with an introduction by Dian Hanson - printed in four languages - where she explains that the books title purportedly derives from the belief that human beings develop as if they have four bodies within themselves - ike Russian dolls - each body having its own consciousness with the fourth and final body governing all. There then follows a lengthy interview with Stuart undertaken by Hanson. The introduction doesn't add much to the work and is somewhat pretentious but the 6 page interview is very interesting, enlightening and definitely worthy of inclusion.
Within the 280 pages of this coffee table book one finds a collection of colour photographs, displayed one per page, interspaced with poetry/text and all printed to a high standard between a hard cover.
In way of an added bonus this volume comes complete with a DVD. This contains an extended trailer for 'The Lost Door' and a lengthy behind the scenes film of the various photo-shoots that take up 'The Fourth Body.'
If you already own Stuart's earlier publications then you will want to have this on your shelves alongside them. If you are coming to his work for the first time then 'The Fourth Body' is a good place to start and the addition of the DVD is a great incentive.
Review by Christopher John Ball
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