"Untitled," 2001
Unique whole-plate daguerreotype
8 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches
[Anatomical Detail #12]
© Jerry Spagnoli

It looks like today is daguerreotype day. Here's two galleries of Jerry Spagnoli's beautiful Anatomical Detail series.

Astounding! Here's a gallery of contemporary daguerreotype nudes by American photographer Charlie Schreiner. This is such a labourious process, I'm amazed to find anyone still doing this. If you've ever seen real daguerreotypes you'll know that there's no way a scan can do them justice. I'd love to see these in real life.

While you're at it, check out the host site Contemporary Daguerreotypes for plenty more amazing daguerreotypes.

Here is a fantastic site filled with great work. Be sure to check out the "Story Photographs" link for several beautiful series of intimate natural light nudes.

Unfortunately the bio information is in Japanese so I'm not able to credit this properly. Can anyone help with the name of this photographer? Please leave a message in the forum for me if you can.


****UPDATE**** I just got a very nice e-mail from the photographer responsible for these terrific pictures. The name is Ao Gunji. Thanks!

Photo/ism

New York Photographer Peter Gorman reminds me a bit of Eric Kroll and Richard Kerns, but less overtly erotic, which is not to say that this isn't pretty explicit, just not so heavy handed. He has four books out to date.

Tokyo photographer MITSUO SUZUKI does fairly straight forward figure study photos. His model's faces are never shown, which clearly indicates that this work is all about lighting the body and finding interesting poses.

Daniel Sikorski is another photographer from my home town of Victoria BC. I don't kow him but I caught his show last year at the Solstice gallery and was impressed by the quality of his prints. The sad part is that during that time, the building his studio was in was destroyed by fire along with his life's work. The photos that were at the framers getting prepared for the exhibition are all that he has left. Talk about every photographer's nightmare...

Sikorski

While definitely referencing many fetish and erotic themes, photographer Victor's creative setups, and great technique place his photography squarely into the fine art realm. Site contains disturbing imagery.

www.lightworship.com

After wading through countless boring, cliche ridden "fine art" sites, it's always a high point when I come across really sensational and creative work like produced by Montreal photographer Andrew Law. Don't miss this one.
FRAGMENT

Muybridge definitely emphasized the "study" in figure study, using his pioneering photo techniques to capture the body in motion. Some would argue this is science not art, but I can't resist using the animated image. Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904)

Speaking of alternative processes, Dan Burkholder's images are all from digital negatives, and are contact printed in platinum/palladium on hand-coated 100% cotton rag paper.

Dan Burkholder's Figure Gallery

Although I'm too lazy to do much more than use conventional toners on my prints, I'm always fascinated by alternative process photography. Here's a handy link page with detailed articles on the Vandyke process, Cyanotypes, Salt printing, and many others. Unblinking Eye - photography, darkroom, alt process

I really like Curtis Knapp's use of lighting in his "Japanese Cats" series.

Curtis Knapp

Few photographers work with so much stylistic variety as the incredibly talented Scott Bonner.

There is a huge amount of work to be seen here at his site empire studio

This one's getting added to the permanent links on the side menu.

Norwegian photographer Inger Kirkeleit does lovely classical figure studies employing both silver gelatin printing and alternative process printing.

Welcome to Inger Kirkeleit Photography

When I first saw Richard Kern's book New York Girls a few years ago I was hooked immediately. His work isn't to everyone's taste, but you have to see it to decide for yourself. Here's his official website.

Richard Kern Photography

"...In 1973, (Dianora Niccolini) began to create photographic bodies of work which resulted in exhibits.  Her first photographic exhibit was in 1974.  It was a serious study of the female nude.  Her second exhibit was in 1975. It was a study of the male nude which was favorably reviewed... One of  her first male models was an Afro-American body builder.  His photographs have been included in many photographic anthologies and were also widely exhibited in the mid seventies and pre dated Mapplethorpe's images of body builders by several years.  Dianora Niccolini's male nude images have definitely influenced many photographers."

Dianora Niccolini's home page

Eric Juaneda's long exposures turn his figures into ghosts, ephemeral and fleeting. He has an interesting eye.

Eric Juaneda

Photographer Bettina Rheims and art historian Serge Bramly have colaborated on a photographic "Life of Christ" photo essay in their controversial new book I.N.R.I. This seemed in keeping with today's religious theme. (or sacreligious depending on your view point)

Site is in French. Click on "suite..." to continue through the images.
I.N.R.I.

Wayne Schoenfeld's series of elaborately staged, and highly theatrical photographs, which make direct references to religious paintings are amazing. However he has some other fantastic photos to be seen as well. Be sure to go through his whole portfolio.

Wayne Schoenfeld

23. Dreads - Rotterdam 1998 (detail)

Wow! This has got to be seen to be believed. This is easily one of the most interesting photo series I've ever seen. Here's the curatorial statement.

"Rotterdam-based photographer Ari Versluis and stylist Ellie Uyttenbroek have worked together since October 1994. Inspired by a shared interest in the striking dress codes of various social groups, they have systematically documented numerous identities over the last 8 years. Rotterdam's heterogeneous, multicultural street scene remains a major source of inspiration for Ari Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek, although since 1998 they have also worked in cities abroad.

They call their series Exactitudes: a contraction of exact and attitude. By registering their subjects in an identical framework, with similar poses and a strictly observed dress code, Versluis and Uyttenbroek provide an almost scientific, anthropological record of people's attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming a group identity. The apparent contradiction between individuality and uniformity is, however, taken to such extremes in their arresting objective-looking photographic viewpoint and stylistic analysis that the artistic aspect clearly dominates the purely documentary element."

Wim van Sinderen, Senior Curator Museum of Photography, The Hague

Exactitudes

Now for something completely different, here's some heavily digitized but interesting work byPhilip Janin - Illustrateur de l'Imaginaire

Untitled, Albert Arthur Allen

Here's three great galleries of vintage nudes from vernacularphotography.com. If you're a collector, all of these are for sale.

Albert Arthur Allen

Stark Brothers Studio

Miscellaneous

Sadly, this link contains just two samples of influential American photographer Lee Friedlander's nudes, one of which is shown above. However, it is still worth a look.

"(Friedlander's) nude photographs are the result of a silent, and almost obsessive urge to capture the naked female body as it really is. Friedlander photographed women in strange poses and from unusual angles. The images show models looking varyingly seductive, frightened, sleepy and musingly into the camera."

Lee Friedlander: Nudes Street Photographs

Bizarre juxtapositions and ironic subtexts abound in the intriguing Men & Women Photogallery by Victor Ivanovski

c1940 - ANONYMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER

Beyond photography, my other passion is antique collecting. So when I found this page, I couldn't resist posting it. I had no idea old photography books and portfolios dealing with nudes were so collectable.

Prints, lithographs, etchings - Elisabeth Legge

Untitled (#5978), 1994
Connie Imboden

"The human body is not just the most magnificent form;
it is the most mysterious as well.
An investigation of the human body can lead to the edge of the mind."

Connie Imboden uses water and mirrors to create incredible abstractions of the humans form. These are sometimes frightening and other times beautiful, but they are never boring. This is really inspirational stuff.

Connie Imboden

OK, break out the those blue & red glasses, because here's 2 small galleries of 3-D nudes by Erwin A. Ilias. I can't rave about the quality of the images, however, I'm taking a 3-D photography course starting this Thursday so I'm thinking about this lately. The question is how to get past the gimmickry and make truely interesting photos...

3dphoto.de

Born in Paris in 1933, Jeanloup Sieff began his career in 1954. After working for Elle magazine and the Magnum agency, he lived and worked in New York from 1961 to 1966. From 1966 he lived in Paris until his death in 2000. His work appeared in Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, as well as, in many other publications. His work has been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries around the world.

sieffa

St. George and the Dragon , 1989
20x24
Silver Gelatin Print

"The camera is a tool full of wonder. It enables me to convey what I see through its lens onto film and permanence. Pure magic. I try to create an ethereal realm in my underwater studio. A Neptunian reverance and synchronicity with the models and staging makes it all happen."-Christina Hope

This work is beautiful, dreamy and poetic. Full of references to classic allegorical painting. By all means check this out.
Katharine T. Carter & Associates: Christina Hope

This is a great example of vintage erotica crossing into the realm of fine art and an interesting mystery too.

"After operating a photography studio near the Los Angeles Civic Center for nearly 40 years Raoul Gradvohl vanished without a trace on Thanksgiving Day in 1976, leaving behind financial difficulty and thousands of photographs. Notwithstanding the efforts of his family, private detectives as well as amateur sleuths, Gradvohl's fate remains a mystery to this day.

Born in Alsace-Lorraine in 1898, Gradvohl never entertained pretensions toward art, presenting himself instead as a commercial photographer. His abandoned equipment and photographs were purchased by UCR / California Museum of Photography from Gradvohl's landlord for $250 in 1977."

UCR / CMP: Raoul Gradvohl Burlesque

Aimee Deep of Aimster music sharing fame and all round internet supermodel has linked to my humble blog. Thanks Aimee! If you're visiting via her site, Welcome! Look around and enjoy the posts.

Free Music-Pundit: Blog News on Lingerie, Free Music, and Heroes

Paul Schröder, untitled silver gelatin print

"(Paul Schröder's) portrayals are much like the enactments except that they often begin as intended portraits rather than as dramas. The sitter, however, is soon re-contextualized by Schröder's use of period costume. "Period costume" is a bit misleading since it is never really very clear what "period" is being evoked because Schröder enjoys making his own versions of "period costumes." Which brings us to the observation that Schröder's photographs display a decidedly late post-modern visual aesthetic. With the use of hand painted backdrops, costumes, and props appropriate to an earlier era, the photographs are evocative of turn-of-the-century pictorialist images. However, with the sharpness of the images and the deep contrast offered by silver gelatin, we are returned squarely into the late 20th century. As mentioned above, the more visually alluring elements are the anachronistic details such as bald headed women, tattoos, piercings, or the imbedding of photographs within an otherwise "period" setting"
Paul Schroder: Enactments

Photographer David Hibberd is from Brighton UK, and is an associate of the prestigious Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain

davidhibberd.com - fine art nude photography

Untitled Nude #14 4x5 Polaroid Type 55 Contact Print
An interesting international gallery with nine different photographers who specialize in figure photography. Above example by John Guinn.
Art Create Photography Fine art nudes

Some very nice creative work by Hakimi Yaph at his site. Check out Gallerys XL and XXL for the fine art section.

Atelier Yaph

Solarized Reclining Nude, 1940
vintage gelatin silver print
3-1/2 x 4-3/4 inches

Here's my art history lesson for the day...

"Konrad Cramer (1888-1963). Recognized primarily as a Modernist painter who synthesized prevailing Cubist theories with an American sensibility, Cramer is most known for pastoral canvases that were variants of abstraction and representation. His photographs retain this "indigenous" aesthetic. In silver prints dating from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, he experimented with various techniques and printing methods that resulted in luminous effects such as solarizations of still-lifes, nudes, and layered abstractions of recognizable objects."

Several more great photographs here, but only one other figure image.
Konrad Cramer Selected Works

Cruel Angel

Vancouver BC photographer Jamie Griffith's work is powerful, disturbing and definitely on the rough end of the lesbian erotica spectrum, but for me it is her superb darkroom technique that is most appealling. She really works her prints using toning, selective development, and other types of creative darkroom technique.

Here's an exerpt from her biography page:

"Bringing a classic lighting style to a raw, edgy sensuality and sometimes disturbing sense of the erotic, has led her work to be compared simultaneously to both Robert Mapplethorpe and Joel Peter-Witkin. Her gallery shows have toured Vancouver, Toronto, Paris, San Francisco and Seattle."

Read the rest of Jamie's Bio here Biography and check out her images here Gallery

German Photographer Peter Achtnich's work is simple, pure, witty, clean and sharp. He has found an aesthetic that really works for him. Click on "Korper" for the figure gallery.
Peter Achtnich Fotografie

"Farber's fine-art photographs have been published in virtually every form. His work has been exhibited in Japan, Europe, as well as the United States, and he has lectured at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, Universities, and professional groups in the United States, as well as Japan, Australia and Europe.

His seven coffee table books have sold over a half a million copies. Sixty of his images have been published as posters and distributed worldwide. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis brought Farber into Doubleday to publish his book "By The Sea," which won the Art Director's award for color photography. His next two book projects, "Natural Beauty," released fall 2001, and "Americana," will be released fall 2002, published by Merrell Publisher in the UK, and distributed by Rizzoli in the US."

The Robert Farber Photographie Gallery

Here's two galleries of edgy fashion photographer and "Dazed & Confused" magazine co-founder Supremo Rankin's nudes.

Female
Male

“Nude Under Wet Silk” 1937

"Erwin Blumenfeld’s “Nude under wet silk” has imprinted itself memorably on the collective consciousness of everyone familiar with the medium as one of photography’s most enduring erotic images...."Description and discussion

OK, time for me to editorialize a bit. While searching online galleries for links for this blog, I come across some of the same cliches over and over again. Over time, these have begun to drive me crazy and generally result in me immediately closing down the page, never to return again. The primary culprits are usually glamour or softcore porn sites hiding under a "Fine Art" heading. Sure, sometimes the lines get blurry, as with the Valery Bareta link below but that's the nature of art. I'm certainly not going to tackle the topic "What is art?". However, I do know I'm pretty tired of seeing the following:

1. Selective colouring on a black & white photo of lips, eyes, or a flower being held by a model.
2. A model who is completely nude except for some extravagantly tall high heeled shoes.
3. A model who is completely nude except for some extravagantly huge hat, usually red. (Also often combined with the high heeled shoes, and even in the worst case senarios, selectively coloured.)
4. Nudes with swords

Whew. I'm glad I got that off my chest. Now it's your turn. What in your opinion are the most over-done, ready to be put to rest forever cliches? Put your suggestions here
Worst Cliches

I know next to nothing about this photographer, but here's a good size gallery of Valery Bareta's work. A few of these definitely stray into the realm of "glamour", but others are quite good and worth a look.
Valery Bareta Studio. Art Nude..

Heidelberg photographer Konrad Gös does some very nice clean looking and technically beautiful black & white figure photography. Click through his introduction page to the gallery and find the "AKT" link. Fotografie in Heidelberg Portraitfoto Fotostudio

I'm stunned by how great San Franciso photographer Nina Glaser's work is. Her strange mud covered figures conjure images of an alien culture unlike anything I have ever seen.
Here is her Mud Pie series with an unusal accompanying written interpretation by A.D. Coleman. Words in the text link to the images.

Mud Pie

Looking for a venue to exhibit your work in a group show? Check out this listing of Juried Art shows.
Juried Art Shows: Exhibitions & Competitions for Artists

"Stitches & Scars: I don’t know why, but I know why not."
photo emulsion, linen, light box and thread © Tamara M. Sadlo - Minneapolis, Minnesota.

As featured in SKIN The human body in art at the Icebox gallery in Minnesota.

"Figures, eros, fragments, politics, mirrors, estrangement, mind, and metamorphosis in a two part exhibit of more than one hundred works of art from around the world. Exhibit juried by Howard M. Christopherson."

This exhibition is a bit hit and miss, but there is definitely some worthwhile art so check it out. ICEBOX

Nobuyoshi Araki is Japans best known and most controversial avante garde photographer. He is most famous for his images, many of them polaroids, of Tokyo's sex trader workers. Araki's photos alternate between sensitive and salicious. There are candid moments and elaborately staged pornographic fantasies. This is work that can't be easily understood or judged.

Here's a good gallery of his work.

PHOTOLOGY - Nobuyoshi Araki

Here is an interesting and somewhat damning review of his opening at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Contemporary Art

Nobuyoshi Araki at the Tokyo Met. Museum of Contemporary Art

Finally, here is the artist's official website. (In Japanese)

Nobuyoshi Araki

"Each time I make a photograph I celebrate the life I love and the beauty I know and the happiness I have experienced"

Ruth Bernhard, 2000
"In a career spanning more than seven decades, (Ruth Bernhard) has created an imposing body of work. Distinguished by their exquisite use of light, her images have been internationally recognized and acclaimed by her peers. Radiant still lifes and nude forms reflect her passionate search for the universal connection of all things."

Photography-Peter Fetterman Gallery : Ruth Bernhard

"By means of combining pictures of fragments of my body with diagrams from anatomy as well as old codices, I have constructed maps - metaphoric/rituals- and reinvented my history. I explore inner and outer spaces guided by such maps as a starting point. With these images, I try to see through the memory of my body that which goes beyond the boundaries of the skin."

Tatiana Parcero. Cartographies

For you photographers, here's a good practical beginner's guide to working with figure models. Artistic Figure Photography Tips

I just found out that my email address in the contact link above has been wrong since opening day! Yikes. It should be correct now. If any of you wrote and never heard back from me, now you know why. Thanks again Jed.

"Century is a chronological series of nude photographic portraits of women from the moment of birth through one hundred years of age. 

While the biological continuum is an important part of the project and provides a vital framework for other issues, this is much more than a mere developmental chronicle. 

Many of the photographs, for example, are accompanied by personal statements written by the participants themselves. These are often highly personal and intensely moving."

Frank Cordelle excerpt from the Century project statement.

A truly moving and fascinating photographic essay. Wonderful. The CENTURY Project: Women from birth through 100 years of age.

(Thanks for this link Jed!)

Stan Funk is a great photographer from my home town of Victoria. His large format IR nudes are breath taking. Although there's no way the web can do justice to the quality of the real prints, I still highly recommend a visit to his site. Funkart

An article entitled Models Reflect on Posing Nude which is exactly what it sounds like.

I've liked the mysteriously uni-named Dima's beautiful but dark allegorical photos for a long time. Here's a gallery of 74 images from his new book "Untressed". I know he's got a web page out there somewhere, but I can't find it. If anyone knows the address, can you please leave it in the forum or email it to me so I can link it?Dima

Here's two very short illustrated essays on the differences between the nude in painting vs. photography.
What is a Nude?
Two Directions for the Nude

Michael Von Gimbut does very simple, but really beautiful figure studies. Really worth a look. Don't skip his portrait gallery either. gimbut

If you've been traumatized by checking out the Charles Gatewood link below, here's a pleasant gallery of b/w figure photographyThierry Geffray

Like Eric Kroll, Charles Gatewood treads the line between art and porn. With 30+ years experience as an established photographer of underground sexual lifestyles he can't be dismissed as a mere pornographer, but his much of his recent work has the look of contemporary internet fetish porn. Personally I prefer his earlier documentary work. CharlesGatewood.com

Although the name is misleading (it's actually 193 nudes) this online gallery of vintage prints for sale has a good range 19th & early 20th century fine art images mixed in with some early erotica. All images are for sale. It's interesting to see the price some of the vintage erotica is fetching these days. 1001 Nudes

Peter Van Stralen is a Dutch photographer who has produced a beautiful book of photos of nude ballet dancers. Well worth a look. PETER VAN STRALEN FOTOGRAFIE

Wow! Check out Francis Baker's beautiful cyanotypes on dress patterns! Go to his homepage, then click through till you find the clothing pattern series in his gallery. Francis Baker- Van dyke and cyanotype conceptual photography- art, poetry, painting by San francisco, California artist

Here's a nice small gallery of Andre Kertesz's weird distorted nudes from the 1930's. These are a must see for those interested in the history of figure photography. Zona 10 If these pique your interest, here's a good biography. American Masters . Andre Kertesz | PBS

One of my all time favourite photographers is Rudolf Koppitz (1884-1936). He was one of the leading representatives of art photography in Vienna between the world wars. In the 1920s Koppitz created his famous Bewegungsstudie, part of a series of figure studies - some clothed, others nude - which employed dancers as models. Although this is the series that most inspires me, his other work is also fantastic as this small gallery of images shows.
RUDOLF KOPPITZ

There's something clean, simple and appealling to Julian Farcasanu's b/w photos.
jfphotography.org

Although not many photos to see here, some are pretty intriguing. e realisatie vzw - art photography