The
New Erotic Photography. Edited by Eric Kroll and Dian Hanson. Printed
in English, French and German.
Published by Taschen.
ISBN-10: 3822849243
The
work of 82 photographers, drawn from 14 countries, are collated to make
up Taschen's latest photographic anthology 'The New Erotic Photography.'
Within the 610 pages of this hard-backed, coffee table, book one finds
a collection of colour and monochromatic photographs, for the most part
displayed one per page, interspaced with a biography of each photographer.
The list
of photographers include Guido Argentini, Didier Carre, Peter Gorman,
Eric Kroll, Christine Kessler, Lisa Boyle, Susan Egan, Craig Morey, Ralph Gibson, the late great and deeply missed Bob Carlos Clarke (to whom
this collection is dedicated) and 'The Association of Erotic Artists'
very own China Hamilton.
The
book opens with the obligatory introduction, so beloved by editors of
such collections, and The New Erotic Photography offers
us two for our perusal. One by Dian Hanson entitled 'Shedding Some Light'
and another by Eric Kroll entitled 'What Is' - whilst I am not usually
a fan of such introductions - most seem rather pretentious and detract
from the imagery by adding nothing to it - in this case both are interesting
and give an idea as to how the collection was arrived at.
The text
that accompanies the work of each photographer is also informative - giving
biographical info and a brief introduction to the philosophy behind their
work - and again adds value to the anthology.
'The
New Erotic Photography' is printed to the usual high standard
that one has come to expect from Taschen but the main strength of this
collection comes from the balance afforded by the inclusion of the work of so many female photographers
within its pages, and their thoughts on erotica, and the editors are to
be applauded for striving towards achieving this balance and offering
us these insights.
'The
New Erotic Photography' is a collection that keeps the reader
interested and the differences in both image style and genre offers something
for everyone.
Review by
Christopher John Ball
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