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Bringing an entirely new slant to the concept of the coffee-table book, SUMO is a suitably enormous homage to 79-year-old Helmut Newton, the master of subversive and erotic photography. "I wanted to build a monument to the most important photographer of the 20th century," comments Benedikt Taschen, the publisher behind SUMO. He delivers. Weighing over 65 pounds, measuring more than two feet long, and breaking any previous size record in book publishing, SUMO contains 480 pages of every aspect of Newton's outstanding career in photography. Each copy of the book is bound by hand and numbered and signed by the artist. In order to showcase this colossus, the book is packaged with its own stand designed by Philippe Starck.

This outsized volume contains the body of Newton's controversial yet iconographic work, documenting fashion, fetishism, and above all an overriding obsession with voyeurism that can make the viewer feel complicit or uneasy by turns. Newton himself describes SUMO as "terrifying and outrageous. I don't even look at it as a book.... I look at it as an object." --Catherine Taylor, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Reviews (12)

a Monolith
Well, as everyone else says, there's no other book like it. I had a look at a copy in an art photography store and thought it was ok, but would I pay two grand for it? Nah, I don't think so. Admittedly, the cover shot from the series 'Big Nudes' is impressive when you first see it, but these pictures were never meant to be printed at this size. Newton shoots fast and produces grainy photographs; at this size the pictures start losing clarity because of the extreme grainyness. There are also slight scratches and imperfections on some of the negatives, which at a normal size are miniscule, but here the tiniest scratch is blown up into a great white worm crawling over the page.

Don't get me wrong, Newton is one of the great lensmen of recent decades. The work displayed here is of itself, brilliant. Even so, you could save yourself a packet and buy a quality 'normal' book of his work, where the pictures can be appreciated more easily. This book's merit lies in it being an art object in it's own right. If you actually want to savour and enjoy Newton's work, give it a miss.

Don't Let the Critics Wrestle Sumo
This book is not meant to collect dust on a coffee table but to lay open atop its stand the way Starck designed it. It's an interactive art piece that can be changed daily, weekly, etc depending on your mood (or the company you expect). How can these arresting and haunting images ever get boring? Would a Helmut Newton hung on a wall slowly become mundane? I can tell you from experience that the answer is a resounding NO.

A work of art.....
This book is by far a conversation piece....I have had company that spends hours turning the pages. Even after having the book for several months, I flip through it and see photos I don't recall seeing the first time. I absolutely love this book and would highly recommend it to everyone. According to the folks at the Taschen bookstore in Beverly Hills, CA, there are fewer than 100 books left out of the 10,000 printed.

A MUST HAVE!
ANY Helmut or June fan must have this anthology!!

Record sized & worth every $, more than a book...
coffee table book with it's own coffee table / stand,
emormous, the biggest book I ever seen,
big & heavy, record size, over 65 pounds,
expensive, high dollar item,
nothing for prude people, but - it's one of a kind,
even if you don't like nude photographie, THIS is the BOOK,
you got to have it...,
just great !!! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Scottish artist Andy Goldsworthy uses a seemingly infinite array of purely natural materials, from snow and ice to leaves, stone, and twigs in the creation of his one-of-a-kind sculptures. Unlike such artists as Christo and Michael Hiezer, whose works leave definite marks on the landscape, Goldsworthy's approach is to interrupt, shape, or in some other way temporarily alter or work with nature to produce his fragile, mutable pieces. To create "Broken Icicle," for example, Goldsworthy was only able to work on the sculpture in the early morning, when temperatures were below freezing. As with most of his works, ultimately, the materials used to create this piece returned to their natural state, leaving no trace of the artwork's existence save for the stunning photos in this book. ... Read more

Reviews (27)

man+nature=art
This is well worth the price of a big coffee table art book. Most of the people who see this book ask "how did he do that?" Indeed, it is amazing how Goldsworthy is able to play with nature to reflect his artistic visions, while still showing a reverence for his medium. He creates art where he finds inspiration, without any tools other than what he finds on site. These photographs are beautiful mementos of his ephemeral artwork.

A MUST HAVE / A GREAT GIFT
Whether you are an art enthusiast or not, this book is a must have for those that appreciate not only art, but beauty in life, nature, and the spirit. Andy Goldsworthy cleverly manipulates the legos of nature and creates a myriad of dynamic and simplistic designs that show his spirit. You will be "wow'd" by this book. It would make a great gift for any occasion or age.

WOW!
This book is truely inspirational. It is one you will go back to time and again. It is soothing when you feel stressed. I would not part with it. It makes a great gift for anyone who appreciates nature or art.

Mind Blowing!
If you've come this far, get this book- you are lucky to have discovered Andy Goldsworthy. And sit down before lifting the cover. The book is a testament to Goldsworthy's unique vision of his environment and skill as an artist and challenges you to believe that the seemingly impossible is possible. Not only are the sculptures genius, but the photographs are beautifully composed and the collection is mind blowing.
You can do a google search on Goldsworthy and see the same pictures but it in no way compares to having the collection in an oversized book on your lap and being able to show your friends as you say, "you will not believe this!"

Incredible photos!
Wow- some of the most beautiful photos of Goldsworthy's work. This collection has quite a variety of subject and spans many years. Truly exquisite environmentally friendly nature art. This is a great coffee table book that gets fought over by our artistic and non-artistic friends alike. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Muscle men, midgets, socialites, circus performers and asyluminmates: in the 1950s and '60s, photographer Diane Arbus (1923-1971) cast herstrong eye on them all, capturing them as no one else could. Herdocumentary-style photos of society's margin-walkers were objective andreverential, while she often portrayed so-called normal people looking farmore freakish than the freaks. Her powerful work was well-received in itsday. Arbus received Guggenheim Fellowships in 1963 and 1966 and wasincluded in a major show at MOMA in 1967. But her work entered the realm ofnear-myth after her 1971 suicide.

Reviews (6)

Warning! For hard-core Arbus fans only
I enjoy Diane Arbus' photos, but this book is too much for me. Her photos are only a small part of the book -- the majority of the book is a catalogue of her life. The contact sheets are quite interesting, as they reveal a lot about how she approached a subject. The rest will likely appeal only to hardcore Arbus fans.

The Monograph as Art Form
DIANE ARBUS: REVELATIONS is one of the most beautiful monographs of an artist I have ever seen or read. This over-sized, beautifully bound, highest quality paper, extraordinarily fine reproductions of photogravure, and sensitively designed and written catalogue for the touring museum exhibition of Diane Arbus Photographs is simply magnificent and well worth the rather steep price. But a state-of-the-art monograph would be of little consequence were it not about one of the most controversial and phenomenally gifted photographers of the last century. Arbus had an affinity for capturing people she encountered because they produced a source of wonder in her. Her eyes were attracted to the edges of normal appearance and anatomy where she captured luminously tender photographs of developmentally challenged fellow human beings. There are countless images of children and adults who have survived a life of 'non-normalcy' and she framed them in her camera's eye with no sense of the voyeur, but instead with a great sense of humanism. Here are portraits of giants with their parents, patients from mental institutions, carnival folk, transvestites, anatomic wonders, as well as simple twins, people she found fascinating, populated places that struck her imagination. The photogrpahs of Diane Arbus have become icons and the contributors to this volume help to propel her already praiseworthy status to that of a genius: Sandra Phillips' essay 'The Question of Belief', photographer Neil Selkirk's intimate 'In the Darkroom' (Selkirk is the only person allowed to develop prints of Arbus' output), and the beautifully conceptualized and constructed Chronology by Doon Arbus and Elisabeth Sussman bringing to us rarely seen portions of Arbus' output and thoughts - all of these are rendered in the best of taste and finest of scholarship. Finally, here is a volume that fleshes out the magnificence of the art of Diane Arbus. This bibliophile's dream of a book deserves awards and most important, deserves your attention. Highly recommended as a true collector's item.

Revealing, revalatory
I own two Arbus monographs and have lived with them for over 20 years. Many of those works are reproduced in this volume. There is a lot of talk about "the human condition" and I suppose all artists in one way or another wrestle with the notion. Arbus has always meant to me someone who seemed to reveal who we are beneath the fashion, the roles, the sex, the culture. I used one of her images as a means to illuminate a poster for a Sam Shepard play called Icarus' Mother - it was of a very young New York boy holding a toy hand grenade in a threatening way during play in Central Park - once seen never forgotten.
Nor will I forget her self portrait, naked pregnant, in this latest volume. So much. So much. This is the volume Arbus lovers have been waiting for. Printed in Germany, beautifully bound, positively packed with images, diary entries, extracts from letters, comment. A bargain.

Arbus according to Arbus
This is the catalog for a show that opened this week at SFMOMA. It is also a document of considerable authority and very little of the cult shrine that is part of the show. There is no doubt that this is a thorough assessment of Arbus' place in the history of her medium. The first chapter of of the written material is scholarly and completely devoid of the overstatement usually plastered on Diane Arbus. Instead, the author relates her work to that of her various teachers and influences, Lisette Model, Gary Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, August Sander, and many others. There are numerous references to and from her notebooks as well as the notes of others but the writing is neither superfluous nor voyeuristic. It is art history at its best.

The selection of her photographs is comprehensive and well organized as you would expect from her estate which owns them all. No doubt the Fraenkel Gallery near SFMOMA had a lot to do with the quality of the show and book. Read it before you attend the show and you will learn a lot even if you've never heard of her.

Coupled with the detailed chronology of her life, the images give a clear picture of a character which has been obscured by mythology and rumor for 30 years. I am not a fan of Diane Arbus (and certainly not a detractor) but I gained a lot of respect for her as an artist as I read her notes and quotes about her own work.
If you are looking for a biography of a brave young woman artist in the mid-twentieth century, this one is good. It is thorough and not editorialized with adjulation. The only gratuitious facts that I would have left out are the cold details of her death in the coroner's reports at the end of the book. Yet I get the impression this is the way she would have wanted it. This is the book she would have written. Absent some equal scholarship to the contrary, this is the truth about Diane Arbus.

A Powerful Book
Thank you Doon Arbus for publishing it. ... Read more

Book Description

In his first book, photographer Michael Thompson offers a grand, almost fantastical vision of fashion, glamour, and style. A compelling yet enigmatic sequence of radiant images-plucked from his fashion spreads, portrait shoots, and personal projects-unfolds across these pages, transcending the original commissions to form a dreamlike narrative. Thompson, with editor Dennis Freedman, presents a surrealistic high-concept exploration of the theme of seeing with one's eyes closed, even as he seduces us with his photographic craftsmanship.

Invoking a pantheon of sources, references, and inspirations-from Vermeer, Man Ray, and Cocteau to Kubrick and Coppola-Thompson has turned the cool, austere style for which he is known upside down to reveal its lush, dark under-pinnings. This deluxe volume brings together Thompson's alluring photographs of some of the world's most celebrated subjects and beautiful models, including Claudia Schiffer, Sting, Kate Moss, and Britney Spears. The book reveals as never before the versatile and inventive vision of this stellar photographer. ... Read more

Book Description

Not only is he one of the world’s preeminent architecture photographers, Robert Polidori is also--as his popular book Havana proved--a master of urban portraiture. The Montreal-born photographer has made haunting studies of bombed-out buildings in Beirut, decaying New York tenements, Versailles rooms in dusty disarray, Brasilia's paean to spare '50s modernism, and, most recently, the abandoned, contaminated cities of Chernobyl and Pripyat. Taken together, they add to his ongoing project: the interpretation of the interrupted urban landscape.

This new monograph combines the eye of a celebrated photographer with the distinctive voice of an artist and adventurer. Each breathtaking image--meticulously selected by the photographer from his own personal archive--is accompanied by a compelling first person account, based on interviews conducted by Martin C. Pedersen, executive editor of Metropolis magazine. Polidori tells behind-the-scene stories about the making of his photographs, takes us to war-torn Beirut and Brasilia and other world capitals, talks about what makes a building photogenic, how he shoots buildings he doesn’t like, his favorite architects, and his love of mosques. A look at the world’s great cities as seen through the eyes of a sharp social observer--and a great photographer.

Often considered an architectural photographer, Robert Polidori is in fact a photographer of habitat. On the surface, his subjects are buildings. But at the core his lens is focused on the remnants and traces of living he finds scattered in hallways, left in back rooms and worn on façades.--The Globalist

The most interesting things are always behind us. I look at everything as archaeology.--Robert Polidori

With Martin C. Pedersen and Criswell Lapin.

Hardcover, 11.5 x 10.75 in. / 128 pgs / 60 color. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Eugene Smith... what can I say!
Superb. I am a professional photographer, and i really admire Smiths work. This book is a great collection of some of his images.
The publishers did a good job reproducing the photographs, nice detail and tone. Definitely worth the price.

Staff Photographer, Seattle Times, Seattle, Washington
An excellent display and text of one of one of the world's great photojournalists. I would recomend this book highly to any fan of E. Eugne Smith

Review of Smith book from an old friend
SMITH BOOK REVIEW

Having risked hernia to browse the impressive new book of an old friend and neighbor, ( W. Eugene Smith; Photographs 1934-1975 John T. Hill/Gilles Mora) what first grabs is the space, air and light enveloping these intense images with almost a loving caress, a sense of freshness and sunlight never possible in our dim, dingy-dusty claustrophobic Sixth Avenue loft building, where, just outside my studio door, were piled stacks upon stacks of his work mounted on black 16x20 dogeared mats, just waiting to be stolen, but which were, in fact, attributed by many visitors to some magical drugstore, and could I, please, arrange to have their wedding pictures made there, too? Gene couldn't sell one print for even twenty-five bucks in those days. Every night when I came home to sleep there was the despairing Clement Attlee staring upward at the bare light bulb over my doorway.

That was forty years ago, and twenty since Gene went to that great blast of ferrocyanide in the sky, and much ado about him has taken place in the interim. New York fifties mindset was Freudian psychoanalysis; everyone went to a shrink. Any prominent individualistic tendencies were often condemned to one definition of neurosis or another, and in the rather small and specious world of photography , Gene's maverick determination stood out in high relief. Businessmen photographers-- like the young Lee Friedlander, himself awash in Freudophilia, considered Gene a 'spoiler', pretentious-precious, and went instead to sit at the feet of the polymorphous Walker Evans; yes, "pomposity" was pretty much the legend that Gene's exit from LIFE brought down around his head. Not a team player at all; tsk tsk. And in his brave repudiation of corporate moloch, Gene valiantly pratfalled himself right into the lap of utter poverty.

To large extent, Gene's persona seemed to require a struggle against impossible odds; it focused and sharpened him to the high standards he demanded from himself , and he was no slouch when it came to grandstanding, often with tears, his anti-Goliath position. He built his own Myth of Smith, his self-invented public (relations?) image, fine when LIFE was footing the bill, but now, inside our firetrap former whorehouse , there was real rent to pay, real electric bills, bona fide empty refrigerators. That is about when we began to get acquainted--- I never really bought the Myth; for me he was just the strangely interesting guy downstairs who became a great pal.

Outside the loft, Gene was quick to acquire the packagable cliche of the garret-starved self-destructive artist. Compared to Van Gogh, he earned some residue of American Puritan contempt; this man whose great humanity was most evident in his work was treated most inhumanely by his peers.

Inside the loft, for many years the two of us were in daily contact, working and trying to exist under extremely difficult economic circumstances, and we often had one helluva good time!! I found him to be a genial, generous, courageous---often outrageous-- warm wildly witty man, always humble, sensitive, shy and hard-working, sharing a great interest in art, with a remarkable philosophical perspective. We jabbered of Welles and Chaplin , wide angle lenses, witches, Goya, Haiti, Satchmo, Stravinsky, O'Casey, Joyce, Kazan, war, suicide, politics, cock-fought over girls, guzzled cheap scotch, and swung with the jazz that regularly took place in my studio , as if great mind trips could avert the cold fact of the necessity to eat. I remember one hot summer day, making cream cheese and molasses sandwiches for us on cinamon bread. Gene argued that we didn't have to buy the molasses because we could get the iron from our rusty tap water. As a rule, his antic humor and punning sense managed always to keep things slightly off-balance; this man who had such a profoundly dramatic instinct and attraction for the tragic had also a capricious spirit of the absurd in the way he conducted his daily life; Van Gogh with a manic dash of Robin Williams.

And astonishingly productive. Yet always the gloomy impassioned chairoscuro came out of the darkroom-- prints blacker than black, then mounted on black, dense, intense, often in layout strangulation, making sure; I , W. Eugene Smith , won't let you go gently into that unferrocyanided good night. Sans assignments, now more artist than journalist, for years on end Gene shuffled his prints, made and remade PITTSBURG, photographed our jazz and our personal La Boheme, tried a failed book, a failed magazine, and finally luck brought him The Jewish Museum show and then his crescendo, Minimata.

One night in Bradley's in 1975, Gene said, "Well, Dave, I finally got there at last. I've got ten thousand dollars in the bank for the first time. Of course, it's only going to be there about a week."

Jump cut posthumous; an icon, passed away amongst us, is now suddenly acknowledged. Many who jeered him, refused him recognition, now come out to sycophant, to pedestal, to celebrate his life-- including LIFE itself. Gee, we're SO sorry; but let's exploit!

Those twenty-five dollar prints buckled the registers at auctions, and giant profits were made; yes, the same old art-woe story--- just at the time Vinnie the Gogh himself was pulling down millions in Sotheby sales. The dark side of Gene, finally, surely, took care of his children and at least one of his wives.

We get a brilliant and sensitive biography by Jim Hughes, a soso documentary, worldwide traveling shows. And then it seemed over. "There's no money left around for Gene Smith anymore" comments executor John Morris in the late eighties, handing his stewardship over to Gene's bastard son.

Now, surprise! comes this current coffee table dominatrix which gives Gene's babies, his pictures, the opportunity to have a life of their own in renewal. SNAP!! Of course one can argue anew the merits of the individual essays and which choices are the best, etc., but for myself-- having gone to bed amidst these images for many years, there's something new about them now; suddenly welcome. There is a spank-spank/no-no here; not all of what we see are Gene's own prints, very much against the artist's wishes, but the damage is by no means on the level of, say, Clement Greenberg's sanding off the paint on David Smith's sculptures after his death. And most of these choices help illuminate Gene's way of seeing and working. There are also textual inaccuracies; Hall Overton did not own the loft bldg. I had rented three floors, and Hall rented originally from me, and my friend Sid Grossman sent over Harold Feinstein to share Hall's floor. When Harold left, he brought in Gene.

I liked John Hill's technical essay at the closure. I was with Gene the night MAD EYES burnt out all the surrounding background, with ritual Clan MacGregor celebration, for neither of us-- one painter, one photographer-- gave a whit about 'objectivity'.

This spacious book-bomb adds honor and light to these master photographs, allowing them their own life and breathing room not usually available. Gene's insistence on control force-gilded his lilies, giving barely any space in his layouts to let the eye feel free to wander on its own volition. Now one can look afresh with impunity, and they look a bit different--even better.

In any event, Gene, now busily groping angels, can no longer argue in his own defense, no longer joke, weep, holler, cajole, rage, pun. And he doesn't need to.

You know? This fellow really had one goddamned great eye and sense of when.

David X Young

Oct 22 1998 ... Read more

Book Description

The photographs by Annie Leibovitz in Women, taken especially for the book, encompass a broad spectrum of subjects: a rap artist, an astronaut, two Supreme Court justices, farmers, coal miners, movie stars, showgirls, rodeo riders, socialites, reporters, dancers, a maid, a general, a surgeon, the First Lady of the United States, the secretary of state, a senator, rock stars, prostitutes, teachers, singers, athletes, poets, writers, painters, musicians, theater directors, political activists, performance artists, and businesswomen. "Each of these pictures must stand on its own," Susan Sontag writes in the essay that accompanies the portraits. "But the ensemble says, So this what women are now -- as different, as varied, as heroic, as forlorn, as conventional, as unconventional as this."

... Read more

Reviews (42)

I'm not Thomas, I'm his daughter, he used my computer to ord
er from Amazon and Now His Name is Stuck on My Account

So much for a title.

Annie Leibovitz's book requires no words. Sorry, Susan, I didn't read your text. The best way to enjoy Annie's photos is to set aside your search for a defining message about women. There isn't one. Women are varied creatures just like the rest of humanity and nature.

Don't you just love looking at them? Don't wish you could get a closer look? Don't you wish the interesting one's would stand in just the right light so you could get a better look? Didn't you always think Hillary C. was beautiful, but you didn't know why?

Thank you Annie Leibovitz for taking the interesting women and standing them in a beautiful light and binding them in a huge book so we can stand and stare as long as we want.

Enough said.

Image as Everywoman
Fiction is my preference when writing book reviews, because I love the complexity of words, stories, and the vagaries of human nature with its endless permutations. But when I received Leibovitz's astonishing compilation of photographs as a gift, I thought I might attempt an impression of page after page of females, as seen through the professional eye of one of the most important photographers of our generation.

Who has not gazed in awe at Leibovitz's unusual perspective, the beautiful made even more so? But I want real women with wrinkles and dirt under their fingernails, the kind of women overlooked in the rush to worship human perfection. I want to see if there is a balance, not just the too thin, too gorgeous, too self-indulgent. In that regard, I believe Women contains a preponderance of well-groomed elegance, albeit impressive, for instance a breathtaking portrait of Gwyneth Paltrow and her mother, Blythe Danner. This particular image contrasts a young woman in the blush of her feminine power with the graceful progression of years that adds to a woman's complex attraction. To be sure, there are folios of celebrities, socialites, all those who live in the rarified strata of entitlement.

While not as numerous, the presentation of real women like me, those who inhabit my world, are so powerful as to diminish the bland compositions of society's darlings. The studies of abused women jump off the pages, eyes glazed, the immediacy of domestic violence tattooing their faces, staring into a future devoid of hope; a remarkably insightful photograph of Ellen DeGeneris, virtually unrecognizable under a layer of cracked white greasepaint; two pre-adolescent girls in the back of a pickup truck, displaying a row of leggy blonde Barbie's, with Ken in a faux high school letter jacket, his plastic Prom Queen sporting a crown atop hair that cascades down the length of her body; three young Latino women glare accusingly at the lens, displaying gang colors with pride, ambiguously dangerous; the lines of age score lived-in faces, eyes shadowed by years of struggle, etched finally by the exhaustion of daily survival. For me, these pictures contain the essence of womanhood, untainted by ubiquitous vanities.

In all, Leibovitz "sees" these women, their strengths, frailties and vulnerabilities. This series of images is a walk through the multi-hued, textured world of women, esoteric, generous, often brutally honest and unflinching. Luan Gaines/2004.

A moving and exceptional book
This is definately my favorite book, and one I enjoy giving to special women friends. Annie Leibowitz has managed to capture the full spectrum of women, from the subdued and simple to the succesful and sophisticated. It is a moving book and a celebration to women's individuality and uniqueness. I warmly recommend it.

Just a name
Although the idea of this book is worthwhile, I am amazed to find so many of the images out of focus. She is supposed to be a fine photographer, but maybe it is this title that has allowed her to feel okay with displaying such poor examples of portraits. It seems she rushed through the work just to get the book published as I don't sense that she put too much heart into the work.

Very Enlightening
I loved the book "Women," this book not only gave information on what all these amazing women do for a living, but it showed the pictures of them at work. A lovely tribute to WOMEN all over the world! ... Read more

Book Description

For over 50 years, Richard Avedon (b. 1923) has captured the creative genius of our time with dazzling insight and incomparable style. Spanning the artist's entire career, from the late 1940s through his most recent work, Richard Avedon Portraits offers a superb selection of his photographic portraits.

With uncompromising directness, Avedon portrayed his subjects against a white background, with no extraneous details to distract from the essential specificity of face, gaze, dress, and gesture. This challenging innovation, coupled with the artist's intense interest in his subjects and mastery of his craft, resulted in mesmerizing portraits-among them Truman Capote, Willem de Kooning, Samuel Beckett, Francis Bacon, and Marilyn Monroe, as well as the uncelebrated Americans of his project, "In the American West"-that rival the greatest works in the portrait tradition.

Richard Avedon Portraits is published to accompany a major exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. With its innovative accordion-style design and superb reproductions, the book is a virtual stand-alone mini-exhibition in its own right. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Marriage of Book and Exhibit
Richard Avedon wears several hats. As an artist creating innovative commercial images; He is behind the most dynamic magazine pages of the day,... He is witness of the greatest generation to social and political fact; He tells stories of icons and common men. He places them alike: actors, writers, poets, politicians and artists. The poet who recites through his lens.
Published to accompany a major Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, Richard Avedon Portraits celebrates His lifetime of achievements and almost does justice to the work.

The Book as Art
RICHARD AVEDON PORTRAITS is a stunning work, not only because of the usual expected glory of his photographs, but because of the genuinely artistic concept behind this catalogue for a Museum Exhibition. Slipcased, the book opens as an accordian with single and diptych/triptych photographs viewable by placing the unscrolled book on a tabletop or bookshelf. Not that there are any new moments here: this is a collection of some of Avedon's famous faces and bodies, curated for a specific purpose. But to view Andy Warhol together with his co-creators of his photos and films standing on one page clothed and on another nude intensifies the manner in which Avedon's manner of capturing the star's works so well. We are treated to a full face of Francis Bacon and in the next panel a partial view of his entire body. All manner of odd characters inhabit these deliciously synchronous pages. The back side of this tableaux discusses Avedon, his influences and appropriations from painting and other art forms, and does what it sets out to do - make the pieces of the tableaux relevant in the history of the time in which they were photographed. This is a clever and rewarding book and the book itself becomes art. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (3)

'...and now, the rest of the story'.
On page six of this large book, Stephen Shore writes, in the Artist's Note, 'The book you are holding in your hands amounts to what might be called the photographic equivalent of a director's cut.' and in the nature of such things you now get an additional ninety-four photos with the forty-nine that were in the original 1982 Aperture edition of the book, though this is not strictly true because some that were in the original are not in this edition.

I bought the original book because I loved the way Shore captured the everyday urban American outdoors and of course the amazing color and detail. This new edition is even better because the photos are now larger (mostly 10.5 by 8.25 inches). The other thing I love about some of these photos is the way Shore captures the street corner, this seems to be a favorite composition (stretching back to the famous FSA photos of the Thirties) with contemporary photographers and Photorealists painters like Richard Estes or Davis Cone. Shore's 'El Paso Street, Texas, July 5, 1975' could just as easily be an Estes painting. There are several corner photos in the book and they are just stunning.

Another reviewer has commented on the amount of detail in these photos, helped of course by the two hundred plus dot screen, the original book used a 175 dpi. Apart from the screen it is interesting to compare images that appear in both books and the color does vary. 'Beverly Boulevard, June 21 1975' in the original (page 39) is predominately brown for the street area, in this edition (page 115) it has changed to a predominately blue cast. I wonder if this is the sort of thing that concerns collectors of first edition photo books?

In addition to the photos in this beautifully designed and printed book there are two text pieces, the first one, by Stephen Schmidt-Wulffen, includes twelve photos from Shore's 'American Surfaces'. The back of the book includes biographical notes and a useful bibliography.

This latest 'Uncommon Places' will be a book I'll look through for some years to come.

Between Gorsky, Sternfeld & Eggleston
This is a book I've been waiting for. I saw some of Stephen Shore's work in a New York gallery last fall and was very impressed. I was sad not to see some of this work in the new Thames & Hudson book, but I am by no means heartbroken.
Shore has added quite a bit of weight to previously published Uncommon Places and the book is well suited to anyone interested in the development of his style.

The work demonstrates a very interesting vein in the "new republic" tradition running very excitingly through American photography now. It is a very democratic body of work. It lacks the now 'oh-so' tired irony that was a hallmark of much late nineties work both in the US and UK.

The photographs that are presented to us are -on face value -seemingly humdrum. A street corner with telegraph poles, a motel bathroom with water in the bath. But on closer inspection there is a haunting beauty to the images; an aching sadness of dislocation, but at the same time oddly uplifting.

These "any-town, anyplace" photographs are perhaps a celebration of our own lives in our own environments. The familiar denies the beauty of our surroundings. What Shore does so eloquently is show us how to look at our world again. There's no politics here, no judgement; this is a straightforward depiction of our homes, towns, cities and countryside that we don't see because our lives are too rushed and complicated to stop and for half an hour stand by Mr Shore's shoulder and take a peak at what he loves about his world. This is a beautifully contemplative set of pictures, the antithesis of the brash, ironic-political, scathing nature of New British Colour.

As with Sternfeld, Shore uses large format and (what I can only assume is) slow speed colour film to draw out a huge amount of detail from his low contrast images. As one looks closer and closer at each print, one cannot help being mesmerised. It almost seems like there's more detail here than in reality. If we were to analyse at this level of detail some of Mr Shore's subjects (if ever we stopped to see them) we'd probably get arrested, or maybe committed. But we get two opportunities with Uncommon Places; we get the chance to spend time absorbed by the huge detail of these scenes, and we get the enormous benefit of seeing the world as through Stephen Shore's eyes. And the world is a better place for it.

Color is Good
This book is an excellent journey through color photography. Stephen Shore uses space and color in a way to descripe a place like no other. ... Read more

Book Description

Over the last two decades, photographer Greg Gorman has carved out a classically refined style that is uniquely his own. In his portraits of Streisand, DiCaprio, De Niro, and Travolta, his fine art work, and his major ad campaigns, Gorman’s images suggest a mastery of the medium that few have rivaled. Continuing his exploration of the male nude, Just Between Us is a highly charged work focused exclusively on one model. During a year of shooting, an unusually collaborative relationship evolved between artist and subject. What unfolds is a photographic narrative unfettered by convention — a bold compilation of images unmatched for its candor and sexuality. 250 photographs are featured. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Greg Gorman's "JUST BETWEEN US" - a special book.
Greg Gorman's "JUST BETWEEN US," recently released by the "boutique" publishing house, Arena Editions, is a collaboration between the very well known and admired photographer and his subject, Greg Knudson. The quality of the work is exceptional in several respects. Gorman, has long ago established himself as a master photographer and has nothing to prove further concerning his considerable skills. What Gorman has created here is a photographic essay featuring one gentleman, Greg Knudson. In certain respects it is not unlike the collaboration between Bruce Weber and Peter Johnson in Weber's now famous "The Chop Suey Club" which was also published by Arena Editions. However, Weber certainly took into consideration that his model (at least at the beginning of their effort) was quite young. Weber appears to have been very sensitive to this fact and produced a beautiful book that showed great respect for his model, Peter Johnson. In Gorman's collaboration with Mr. Knudson, a mature gentleman, both photographer and model could in good taste go much further than Weber did with Chop Suey. The book, with Greg Knudson as its striking focal point is certainly sexy and sexual. It is without a doubt a "no holds barred" work on the male nude, and goes well beyond what one might expect in a serious photographic essay on the male nude. For all who encounter the book, it will certainly be striking, while for some it may be shocking. However, no one will walk away from the book considering it ordinary. It is anything but that. As for the volume itself, it is beautiful and well-made. The paper used is of high quality heavy stock; the clothbound cover is beautiful and a great deal of attention has obviously gone into the production of the volume as a whole. How a volume of this quality ands size can be retailed at such a low cost is amazing. The first printing will probably sell out before I finish writing this piece - AND IT SHOULD!!

Just Between You, Me & Our Darkest Fantasies....
Greg Gorman, the sensation behind, " As I See It, " once again expresses with the lens why it is that he is THE name when it comes to male nude photography. Unlike that "other" photographer iin this genre, Gorman produces a photographic journal that leaves viewers weak and panting for more.
Using a single model may be deemed as shallow and superficial by some, but its an arousing journey into discovering the individual elements of a young man on the brink of manhood that combine to explosive results. Greg Knudson is an innocent angel on one page and a full fledged sex puppy on the next -- arousing a unique combination of sensations and emotions in the viewer. It feels like a voyeuristic peeping tom excursion, only having received previous approval from both Gregs as it were.
This book represents quality at its very best from the cloth binding to the textured sepia prints .. all 200 plus pages.... plenty enough to allow for even the most jaded skeptics to fall panting at Greg's ( in this case, the model ) feet. To be devoured time and time again.

Mr. Johnson this is for you
Boring, tasteless and unoriginal. Photographer has an obvious fixation...which has kept him from paying attention in many cases to contrast, tone, and line. One star for the big you know what, the real model here. I'm sure book has its merits, but they aren't artistic. Putting my copy up for sale!

A Picture is Worth How Many Words?
The dust jacket description of this book as "Shocking" is the gravest underestimation I've heard this week. I never imagined newsstand fleshmag material elevated to fine art, the model expressing the same delightful tone of tawdry sexuality and the photographer the same intent as those (not so cheap anymore) monthly thrills, pictured for posterity. Bruce Weber's "Chop Suey Club" (which I bought the same day as this one, triumphantly for only a couple hundred dollars) is sentimental, but I would say this collection is more valuable for its daring. Therefore, if you have any inclination towards this book BUY IT NOW!!!!!! I won't feel sorry for you when you have to bid at auction for this book for hundreds more, because you know how Arena Editions are, as our beloved "Chop Suey Club" is: rare, limited edition printings, instant collector's items, etc....It's almost a sin to devalue it and tear off the shrink wrap. And no, I'm not going to sell my copy, so that's one less on the future market.

More than just another pretty face
...I also think there's more going on in these images than Gorman's luscious black&white ganders at Knudson's anatomy. As an academic who thinks a lot about gender roles, and sexual orientation, I find this collaboration between a gay photographer and a straight model a provocative exploration of those very issues. The most interesting images are not those where Knudson is showing off his (admittedly fabulous) body parts, but those that seem to question men's relationships with their bodies and the roles society expects them to play... There's a sort of innocent charm in these photos, a heart warming candor, like a Norman Rockwell picture of a boy and his dog. (Okay, laugh if you will, but I mean it.)... Bravos to both Gregs in this project. ... Read more

Book Description

The Polaroid camera combined two of Andy Warhol’s obsessions--the disposable nature of modern consumerism and the photograph as ready-made. An inveterate and relentless user of Polaroid cameras, he made tens of thousands of instant photographs during the 1970s. Many of these were made over a short time span and focused on one individual or subject, sometimes a formal sitting for a portrait, an informal event with friends, or a party at The Factory.

Between 1970 and 1976, Warhol established a rigorous system of cataloguing. He would take home the Polaroids, edit and sequence them, and then enter them in individual red Holson Polaroid albums. These albums, with Warhol’s original sequence and themes, have remained intact.

Red Books is a red wooden box containing 11 of Warhol's Holson Polaroid albums. Each book contains a facsimile reproduction of Warhol’s sequence. The themes include a study of Paloma Picasso, a day trip to Montauk, Mick Jagger, the "Asshole" painting, and John and Yoko. In addition to the 11 red books, a black book is included which contains a text by François-Marie Banier explaining the significance of these albums within Warhol’s oeuvre and how they act as a visual diary of his work, offering unrivaled insight into his creative process. Essay by François Marie Banier. Other, 5.5 x 3.5 in. / 300 pgs / 220 color. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

This book is a classic - timeless and striking.
The Family of Man - first published in 1955 - is the pictorial record of one of the most riveting exhibitions of photography of all time. The book, which contains some text, is a poignant treasure of the human condition - from birth to death. It shows man's relation and connection to life, regardless of country or language and all that we share through love, pain, rituals and simply coping. The phrase " a picture is worth a thousand words" comes alive in The Family of Man.

A brilliant presentation of the human spirit on film
This book details the Family of Man photography exhibit composed of photos that Edward Steichen collected from photographers throughout the world. From the intro by Carl Sandburg (his brother in law), to the photographs of birth, life, death and the emotions and events in between, the book shows true humanity through the eyes of the camera. Featuring works by many famous, but yet unknown photographers, this book is a true treasure. When you glance at its pages you will discover new perspectives, or maybe something inside yourself. This is not a picture book, but a photo biography of the human race. If you are tired of coffee table books that sit unopened, pick up this book a few times and share it with your friends. You will read it again and again, discovering new secrets with every turn of a page.

Most wonderful wonderful and yet again wonderful
First time I saw the pictures collected by Edward Steichen was in the permanent museum of the exhibition, Clervaux in Luxembourg.

I was keeped almost in silence from entering to exiting and the message of the pictures was striking to me then - and 15 years later it still is.

This is a collection of pictures from all the world, picked between Thousands to be the best pictures to describe the family of man as we ALL are. No matter of colour, religion, origin or political believe we are all sons, fathers, lovers, hungry, thirsty, at times fearful and at times playful - WE ARE ALL ALIKE!

This message is as important now as it was in the 50` and looking at extreemist and the war of terror, you can only wonder how come we have learned nothing in 50 years.

The book brings me back to Clervaux and the thoughts about life, and each time I stop at a different picture or text, that captures the essence of where I am at that time of life. The book is universal not only to man but also to moods.

However happy I am to own the book it is nothing compared with the exhibition in Luxembourg. I can only say that I returned and will return again, and for the full experience of these pictures I will recommend it to all.

Note that all (but one) customer reviews are 5 stars!!!
This is simply the best collections of photographs that I have ever seen. The book dates from the 50's, but the subject matter... humans... are the same today. Buy this for yourself, of as a special gift for a special person, and you'll not regret it. (I only wish it were still published in hard cover)

Beautiful, Thoughtful
I have given this book as a gift many times over the years, and can't recommend it enough. The photographs are beautiful, giving the viewer a sense of what is common in the overall human experience. Simple, straight-forward in content, and very moving. An essential volume of photographs. ... Read more

Book Description

In November 2003, the musician and photographer Bryan Adams began photographing a cross section of influential American women dressed in new and vintage Calvin Klein. Shot mainly in New York and Los Angeles throughout 2004, American Women is a tribute to the beauty, strength, and character of American women. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Katie Couric, Jennifer Aniston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Lindsay Lohan, Christie Brinkley, Sarah Jessica Parker, Eartha Kitt, Aerin Lauder, Marlo Thomas, Nan Kempner, Paula Zahn, Cindy Crawford, Alice Sebold, Amber Valletta, Katie Holmes, Eve Ensler, and Lauren Hutton are just a few of the women Adams selected from among America’s most notable actors, journalists, musicians, artists, businesswomen, athletes, and philanthropists, all lovingly and glamorously captured by the camera of a rising star in the field. Produced in close collaboration with the Calvin Klein company, American Women is Adams’ third book of important women. His first, Made in Canada (Key Porter, 1999), benefited the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and featured influential Canadian women such as Linda Evangelista, k.d. lang, Shania Twain, and Pamela Anderson. Based on its success, he published a second book, Haven (Trebruk, 2000), in the U.K. Benefiting the Haven Trust, a breast cancer support center in London, the book raised a considerable sum for the charity and received widespread press. For that book, Bryan photographed HRH Queen Elizabeth II, the Duchess of York, Vanessa Redgrave, Elizabeth Hurley, Kate Moss, Julie Christie, Joan Collins, and forty other influential British women. Proceeds from American Women will benefit the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in support of their ongoing breast cancer research programs. ... Read more

Amazon.com

To achieve the quiet beauty of his art, Andy Goldsworthy spends long hours in rough weather, engaged in a tug-of-war with nature. He wrestles heavy stones on top of one another to form tall, egg-shaped landmarks known as cairns. He painstakingly covers fallen logs with bright golden bands of Dutch elm leaves—a last hurrah for a proud species decimated by disease. He pulverizes white chalk to lay a long, wandering path in the woods that gleams in the moonlight. Works like these are as much about the transience of life as they are about a sense of place and the pleasures of color, light and form. In Passage, the British artist's latest book, he once again provides diary excerpts that chronicle his daily successes and failures. The lush color photographs he takes to document peak moments of the birth, glory and decay of his art are as beautiful as ever. Unlike the other books, however, Passage--which begins in 2000 and darts back and forth over the next few years--is shadowed by a more urgent sense of mortality. Goldworthy's recently deceased father is in his thoughts, and a major project he tackles is the memorial Garden of Stones for the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York. The garden's giant boulders pose many difficulties--finding the right ones, acquiring them, moving them, experimenting with cutting processes and coping with the elderly stonecutter's frequent tantrums. Hollowed out, the stones will be filled with trowels of earth (a ritual recalling burial) and tiny oak saplings, symbolic of life. "The partnership between tree and stone will be stronger for the tree having grown from the stone, rather than being stuck into it," Goldsworthy writes in his straightforward style. (An essay about this project by the historian Simon Schama, previously published in The New Yorker, is one of several pieces by other writers included in the book.) Once again, Goldsworthy succeeds in showing how seemingly simple ideas and actions can deeply engage both natural forces and human emotions. —Cathy Curtis ... Read more

Reviews (5)

What a work of creative and artistic genius!
What a work of creative and artistic genius!

What to say about such an amazing work? For the first few times I
mainly absorbed the photos of his works, with only reading the
little captions and it wiped me off my feet. After a few rounds
of these I decided to read all of the writing in the book that
accompany the works he made and it totally blew me away. This
book has definitely altered something deep inside about the way
Ilook at nature, change, the seasons and time in general.

Time, as the title of the book suggests is the main topic of the
book and Andy Goldsworthy's art in general or at least his
approach and intention towards it. The body of work presented in
numerous photos and with corresponding writing in the form of a
journal covers the whole range Goldsworthy's work. For example
works made from stone, wood, leaves, snow, ice,...

As a result it gives an excellent overview and introduction of
his work and via the numerous writings a very deep, personal and
detailed insight into how he approaches different places, how he
reacts to change and works with the weather. The writing is on
par with his work. Very clear, direct, honest and poetic.

His insight into the concepts of time and change and seasons and
nature is truly breath taking. The introduction he wrote for the
book is a wonderful example illustrating this. Part of it can be
read by using the "Look inside the book" feature of Amazon.

Spending time with this book really cracks ones mind wide open
about time, change, nature and seasons and how to look at it and
perceive it.

And honestly I don't know what's more amazing. These amazing
and unbelievable pieces of art. Or the incredibly crisp and poetic
writing, deepening so much ones understanding of the works and
give insight into Goldsworthys view and approach and thoughts. Or
simply that out there somewhere a human being is walking this
earth with such an amazing understanding of time and nature and
able to transform this into amazing art an writing.

If the idea of Goldsworthys work is for him to work with time and
change and nature and to further his awareness of these concepts
and make sense of them in the most beautiful way then that is
exactly what this book excells marvelously at for the reader.

Another superb look at Andy Goldsworthy's ephemeral art
Andy Goldsworthy's artwork is utterly ephemeral and fleeting, and perhaps because of this, utterly transfixing. There is something of the ancients in the way Goldsworthy puts together stone, or wood, or leaves--or even in the way he lays himself down on a dry patch of ground in the rain so that when he gets up, we see a sort of reverse shadow of his body. There is an astonishing intellect at work here, and a soul which sees the value in what some art snobs might term "mere beauty."

Goldsworthy's many mediums are covered in "Time," which features sumptuous photography by Terry Friedman. We see perfectly constructed stone cairns--some pyramidal, some only half done and all the more startling for what isn't there as for what is. We see ruddy sandstone arches four times the height of a man. But Goldsworthy's most consistently inviting work is done not in stone, but in the ephemera nature leaves for him everywhere he looks. Goldsworthy's work is sometimes so fleeting as to question the very nature of whether it constitutes art when it lasts only minutes or hours. The frost shadows, for instance, are simply photographs of the still-iced patches of grass over which Goldsworthy stood in the early morning, then stepped aside so that a photograph could be taken. Of course these are gone within minutes as the sun warms the now-exposed grass. Is this art? Merely the fact that you question it shows your engagement with the work--Goldsworthy fosters a kind of subtle dialogue between reader and artist and the dialogue is consistently engaging. Another heat-destroyed piece is the thinnest imaginable sheet of ice, laid against a moss-covered rock, and Goldsworthy's handprint visible on it. As it thawed, it buckled and disappeared and we see its disappearance in the photographs. It's lovely, it's witty and it is, improbably art.

Other things disappear, too, but not from the sun's warmth. There is a "stick hole" Goldsworthy built early one spring which he and Friedman came back to photograph throughout the summer until the final photograph shows it utterly covered with the lacy ferns which grew up around it. There are the perfectly circular or perfectly ovoid leaf rafts Goldsworthy stitches together, then sends on their way down a meandering stream, having their path photographed before they disappear. There are the piled of rocks he constructs leading into the ocean so that the tides swallow them up--each stage meticulously recorded on film.

Perhaps the most transformative art in the book is the mud wall displayed on the cover. Goldsworthy applied mud to walls and floor in such a way that when the mud cracked and dried, it showed the meandering, snakelike pattern he'd put into it. It has become something entirely different solely through the passage of time. This book is filled with surprises and delights, and will have you utterly absorbed, charmed, and astonished. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Mature Work by a Great Artist
This is perhaps Goldsworthy's most elegiac and moving book, a profound meditation on time and change. If you like his work, you won't be disappointed. This volume and "A Collaboration with Nature" are wonderful and permanent sources of inspiration.

Time
Entropy. Order versus Disorder, structure versus chaos, these are the forces that we all deal with, and Andy Goldsworth displays this primal struggle elegantly in this beautiful new book. What the artist creates nature returns to itself. We see the process from inspiring begininng to intriging end with the key player being Time. It is hard to envision a more perfect book of this artists' work.

The best yet
If you are already an Andy Goldsworthy fan, this book is an essential coming together of his various design phases. It explains chronologically his life's work. The commentary describes his methods and his feelings. The photography as always is breathtaking making every page a joy.

If you are not already a fan this book represents a 'best of' summation of his work and makes his other three books a more indepth look at each phase of his working life. So buy this one first. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A Pleasant Surprise.
I've been collecting David Hamilton books and prints for more years than I'd admit. In the course of those years, I have seen photographers attempt to copy Hamilton's style. Many poor quality books were made of those attempts in the 'seventies, and usually they were awful. That's why people know who Hamilton is but have no idea who those others are. Those are not true artists, and as a collector of Hamilton's work I'd finally believed that he would just never have an equal. Now that he's retired from publishing, I'd guessed that my collection was complete.

Then I found this book here. I'd never heard of this photographer, but I'd read on another site that his work was 'Hamiltonesque'. Sceptically, I bought it. When I received the book, I was pleasantly surprised. The criticisms above are void when we discuss Richard Murrian. While his pictures clearly bear Hamilton's influence, there is a dark and moody feel. There seems to be almost a melancholy recognition that the time of childhood is ending and the more complex world of adulthood, with all it's trifles of relationships, sexuality, and responsibility, is arriving for his models. In style, something of the classical masters is present in the way these pictures are illuminated. One particular picture (on page 119) looks like the Mona Lisa. In terms of composition he comes in tighter, with a majority of the pictures being 3/4 body and portrait shots. Also, his models appear a little older than Hamilton would choose. I'm guessing most of the girls in this book are around 15,16 years, and some of them look to be at least 18. A few might be a little bit younger (the book says he photographed the girl on the cover from age 14 to 18). These are blossoming young women, not Hamilton's "Lolitas". So while his pictures are clearly influenced, they are at once definitively unique. As for the photographer himself, while I don't know his age, there are two photos of him in the book and he is clearly a young man. This isn't another old "has-been" from the 'seventies, this is a vibrant new artist. That is what I find most interesting and exciting, because it makes me wonder what is to come from this guy?

Thank the stars, the world has a new 'Hamilton'. And considering the pace at which this world seems to be regressing into the failed moral constraints of yesteryear, he could not have come at a better time. Godspeed to you, Richard!

A beautiful work of art
This book is a masterpiece.

The female body is beautiful work of art on it's own and has long been the subject of artists of all media. Richard's technique of catching them in such beautiful light and settings, seemingly unaware of the camera, is to be applauded. I have always loved the Pre-Raphaelite soft focus style of photography, and this book is an excellent example of it. I own all of David Hamilton's and Robert Farber's books and Richards book certainly fits in right beside the masters.

I've keep up with Richard Murrian's work from the time he opened "PhotoDreams" until now. I find it amazing that he only started photography in '98 and then only to shoot his, then girlfriend, Nancy. He has proven to have a very gifted eye. I love this book and highly recommend it for anyone who likes the works of David Hamilton and Robert Farber. I look forward to your next book, Richard.

A Thrilling New Vision of BEAUTY !!!
This is the book that longtime fans of Richard Murrian's work have been waiting for. At last - it's here!!!

It's been a long and often frustrating road. Given the supposed "controversy" of Murrian working with young females as nude models, few publishers had the courage to even enter into discussions about publishing his work. But finally, the renown and immensely respected publishing house Edition Skylight took him under their wing and gave Richard the platform he deserved. The result is this book, Reanna's Diaries, and I doubt that anyone will be disappointed. Indeed, it is arguably the most daring and exquisite vision of the human form published in the last decade.

The main subject matter of the book is the young and beautiful Reanna, who first collaborated with Richard when she was just fourteen years old, but there are several other young models featured as well, each a slender, impeccably perfect beauty. Portrayed in Murrian's magical, delightfully romantic and ethereal style, his subjects transcend all traditional concepts of grace and beauty and take on a glorious, almost celestial quality. So, prepare to be spellbound. The production quality of the book itself is flawless (typical of Edition Skylight) and its dimensions of 10.5" x 8.5" is very satisfying. The preface and introductory text are in English, German, and French. It features 201 color plates set against a glossy white background. As an added and very intriguing bonus, each plate is accompanied by commentary (located at the back of the book) where Richard provides details of the picture such as its title, model information, his photographic technique, and various other elements that went into creating the image. A main strength of the book is that even though there are over 200 plates, they are culled from the enormous collection of work that Murrian has amassed over the last few years, and is something of a best-of-the-best collection. This is very cool ... but really puts the pressure on Murrian if he's wanting to produce a follow-up book that equals or surpasses this most amazing initial effort.

The controversy that hovers around Murrian's work is his vision that young girls, at the genesis of womanhood, are subjects worthy of artistic study. But only the most radically puritanical will find anything offensive in the work presented here. Murrian's work is so highly stylized, his sincerity so obvious - if anything this work is immensely and eternally uplifting. Murrian's portraits and nudes are intimate, breathtaking glimpses into the wondrous physical and spiritual qualities of these girls. It reminds us of all the hope and promise, and the splendid perfection of youth that is so precious and so fleeting. This makes Murrian not only one of the most daring artists of our time, it also makes him one of the most important. My only hope is that the world is enlightened enough to understand what he's trying to convey.

Great but not all Reanna
I thoroughly enjoyed the pictures in the book. I was a little disappointed, however, to find out that not all of the pictures were on Reanna. I did not see that anywhere in the description, so I assumed that they were all of her. Instead, there are eight models that are featured, and Reanna is only one of them. Still, though, I found it very enjoyable. ... Read more