Male Nudes

by David Leddick

The very best and most impressive images from the original klotz of this title are included here — you'll find the likes of Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, David Hockney, George Platt Lynes, Cecil Beaton, Nan Goldin, Wolfgang Tillmans, Pierre et Gilles, and even Chuck Close. For anyone who worships the male body or wants to know why others do....

Genres: Art, Gay, Sexuality, Queer, Photography, Nonfiction, Erotica

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 2001

About the author

David Leddick is the author of several novels as well as several highly-regarded art photography books. His novels include "My Worst Date," "Never Eat In," "The Sex Squad," "The Handsomest Man in the World," and his art compilations include "The Male Nude", "Secrets of the Chorus" which was mounted in a concert production in 2003 and is at work on two other musicals. Leddick was formerly worldwide creative director for L'Oreal and Revlon. He divides his time among homes in Miami Beach, Paris and Montevideo.

Reviews

[George Ilsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just reading about Pasolini’s treatment of bare flesh in his movies, so thought I would "scan" this volume for contrast.
There is a slight introduction here in English, German and French, which says very little. The rest of the book are simply photos arranged in 20 year groups. The photographers do not have bios or backgrounds. The pictures are all photographs— perhaps there should have been some more paintings or classical sculpture. In particular, the early physique pictorials were often arranged in classical motifs— either inspired by classical works or posing naked under the cover of “art”. Nudity used to have that excuse: it was classical. Here we see some of those classical echoes, and then, after the 1960s, nudity slides into a more celebratory, or blatantly eroticized frame.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the Greek and Roman imagery of youthful sporty male nudes favoured by the nineteenth century photographer to the more bold poses of the modern day male nude are all included in this book. The changing aesthetics of the male nude model are interesting to observe over time. The modern models are youthful, muscular, virile and erect. Which leaves one to ponder the pressure put on young males to achieve a perfect form. Surely the next step for male nude photography is to celebrate the average man, whether old, obese or different from the norm. Red Hot tried to do this with ginger men but eventually fell into the perfection aesthetic. Let's here it for all nude men no matter their size, shape or sexuality.

[Adrian Santiago · Rating 2 out of 5]

El libro divide las propuestas por 20 años, dirìa que los 20 y 60 tuvieron las mejores propuestas (y quizà los mejores cuerpos); pero a la vez està padre ver la diferencia de cuerpos, curvas, volumen y tonalidades.

Muy pocas me parecieron buenìsimas (como 4 en total), y creo que hay muchas que simplemete estàn ahì porque son desnudo pero no aportan mucho. Varias de los 80 no estàn ni al nivel de las primeras propuestas.

Fuera de la compilaciòn no hay mucho què decir; no hay historia ni nada.

[LINGARAJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

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