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Revenge
A timelessly wild and sexy photo novella, still inviting viewers on a glamorous escapade 20 years on Long known for her provocative work in the fashion world, photographer Ellen Von Unwerth becomes a director on the set of a sadomasochistic story told solely through images. Revenge begins with a trio of young women arriving at the estate of the Baroness, expecting a relaxing weekend. The Baroness, her chauffeur and her stablehand soon have them involved in something quite different. Von Unwerth creates a movie-style production complete with a cast and hair and makeup artists. Models wear clothes by Ann Demeulmeester and Dior, shoes from Louboutin and Dolce & Gabbana and more. Cinematic yet effortlessly high-fashion, Revenge encapsulates the aesthetic of the 90s and 2000s that Von Unwerth herself helped define, and includes her trademark glamor and eroticism that has made her the doyenne of modern fashion photography. This alluring vintage-style volume, with linen binding and an oval tip-on, includes an essay by British artist and writer Harland Miller.
Ellen Von Unwerth (born 1954) was born in Germany and grew up in the Bavarian foster care system. She worked as a fashion model for ten years before turning to photography. Her breakthrough work arrived in 1989 when she photographed supermodel Claudia Schiffer. In 1991 she received First Prize at the International Festival of Fashion Photography. For over 30 years her photos have been featured in magazines such as Vogue , Vanity Fair and Interview .
Harland Miller (born 1964) was born in Yorkshire, England and received a Master’s Degree from Chelsea School of Art in 1988. His first novel, Slow Down Arthur, Stick to Thirty was published in 2000 and received critical acclaim. In 2002 he was Writer in Residence at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, where he curated an exhibition in homage to Edgar Allan Poe. He is best known for his paintings of Penguin book covers featuring satirical titles.
Ellen Von Unwerth (born 1954) was born in Germany and grew up in the Bavarian foster care system. She worked as a fashion model for ten years before turning to photography. Her breakthrough work arrived in 1989 when she photographed supermodel Claudia Schiffer. In 1991 she received First Prize at the International Festival of Fashion Photography. For over 30 years her photos have been featured in magazines such as Vogue , Vanity Fair and Interview .
Harland Miller (born 1964) was born in Yorkshire, England and received a Master’s Degree from Chelsea School of Art in 1988. His first novel, Slow Down Arthur, Stick to Thirty was published in 2000 and received critical acclaim. In 2002 he was Writer in Residence at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, where he curated an exhibition in homage to Edgar Allan Poe. He is best known for his paintings of Penguin book covers featuring satirical titles.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 14, 2020
This is a terrible book. Cannot recommend. HIgh Art or mediocre soft porn? You choose. Or choose not to read, because this is as visually anti-erotic as Gloria Vanderbilt's "Obsession" is to read.
Here's the back story: fashion photographer Von Unwerth hires a bunch of models (whose body types range from skinny to anorexic) for a photo shoot featuring expensive yet badly-fitted lingerie and high-fashion shoes supposedly depicting a sadomasochistic and anachronistic fantasy tale.
Although Von Unwerth claims to be a "feminist photographer" but I see no evidence female empowerment of that here. The "text" was supplied by a man - one cannot call it writing - is so badly written as to be incomprehensible at worst, laughable at best. All of the photos, some of them so grainy and out-of-focus, are arranged to appeal to the male gaze, and rarely align to the supposed story line. The book itself seems to be slapped together, and the quality of the paper is mediocre. If these photos were worth printing (and a few are) they should have been printed on high-quality glossy stock, a la Vogue.
Deeply unsatisfying on all counts.
Here's the back story: fashion photographer Von Unwerth hires a bunch of models (whose body types range from skinny to anorexic) for a photo shoot featuring expensive yet badly-fitted lingerie and high-fashion shoes supposedly depicting a sadomasochistic and anachronistic fantasy tale.
Although Von Unwerth claims to be a "feminist photographer" but I see no evidence female empowerment of that here. The "text" was supplied by a man - one cannot call it writing - is so badly written as to be incomprehensible at worst, laughable at best. All of the photos, some of them so grainy and out-of-focus, are arranged to appeal to the male gaze, and rarely align to the supposed story line. The book itself seems to be slapped together, and the quality of the paper is mediocre. If these photos were worth printing (and a few are) they should have been printed on high-quality glossy stock, a la Vogue.
Deeply unsatisfying on all counts.
December 10, 2015
I'm starting to realize Ellen Von Unwerth is not my cup of tea.
Give me Helmut Newton over her any day.
Give me Helmut Newton over her any day.
September 5, 2020
3.5/5
This is a book that is both either, "porn or soft-core erotica" or, "not a decent read due to the watered-down BDSM". It should not matter that this book is porn even were it proclaiming otherwise - the sticker on the back lists, "erotica, matura, fine-art photography, pornographic content including nudity and . . . ".
Firstly, let's say that this book did pretend to be some grand art piece, with photographic content to match Robert Frank's strongest work mixed with the perfect technical skills and alluring compositions of Bresson - no one has, or will, see, Bresson's corpse jangling down the road, shot back into life simply to smack Miss von Unwerth. It is, as a certain Emma on this site would term it, "a moot point", for who cares? If you find this to be pornography, has your life been derailed due to this opinion? Has encountering a work bound in a fancy velvet hardback that includes naked women playing about on an estate until those evil stares of the villainess' arrive before our high-heeled, stockinged-leg, probably stoned, ladies make it into such saucy scenes as women flirting in lingerie with no . . . penetration? This is the book you thought would be something else (not porn) but is still, paradoxically, porn to you? Fine. Erotica, porn, who cares, but the fact that this turned out not to be a fashion book seems to, for some reason, anger people enough that rather than attempt, or fake, being as objective as possible it feels better to rant - rant is noted, and that rant is imbecilic.
So, it's not hard core porn if it is porn. and since the models are, largely, wearing nylons, satin, boots, heels, bras, lace lingerie, and decided - correctly - to not, for the sake of fashion, shave certain areas - now it's not hard core enough in the BDSM department. Not an authentic exploration of the overly-documented BDSM scene, since didn't you know, I says, that the truly magnificent and fabulous Randy Diller produced a book of BDSM images, in 1953!, that proved to be so groundbreaking and utterly exceptional that only twenty copies were ever printed -due to: insert censorship, maybe he was gay, maybe he was they, or perhaps pederast pony - and no reprints were commissioned, and yet I am still yelling at you for not knowing about the author or his work whilst I gleefully shame you in the presence of my kool pals, and we all laugh at you and how other readers of, "Revenge", haven't heard of, let alone, read, Diller's seminal work, "Yeah, I Guess It Hurt".
Anyway, it boils down to if you appreciate any of the following: attractive ladies with roaring 20's haircuts that are fond of wearing nothing but glossy lingerie as they fool around with each other on a vast French estate, in black and white. The photography is more than competent - I was surprised by how much hard, natural light was used for effect opposed to throwing up diffusion curtains all over and/or shooting with an older lens. These are not digital images, either, which, for a pretentious bore like me, is a point in the books favour. While it's unclear if the thin plot would be hurt by the editing out of certain images - I'm thinking a good number of the unfocused, soft shots - it wouldn't have been too large an error to remove a few.
Nonetheless, it creates a narcotic mood, removed from all worries, with a cast wandering about in a daze while seeking out pleasure. It's a strange sort of atmospheric erotic collage of pleasing locations, women, and photography.
This is a book that is both either, "porn or soft-core erotica" or, "not a decent read due to the watered-down BDSM". It should not matter that this book is porn even were it proclaiming otherwise - the sticker on the back lists, "erotica, matura, fine-art photography, pornographic content including nudity and . . . ".
Firstly, let's say that this book did pretend to be some grand art piece, with photographic content to match Robert Frank's strongest work mixed with the perfect technical skills and alluring compositions of Bresson - no one has, or will, see, Bresson's corpse jangling down the road, shot back into life simply to smack Miss von Unwerth. It is, as a certain Emma on this site would term it, "a moot point", for who cares? If you find this to be pornography, has your life been derailed due to this opinion? Has encountering a work bound in a fancy velvet hardback that includes naked women playing about on an estate until those evil stares of the villainess' arrive before our high-heeled, stockinged-leg, probably stoned, ladies make it into such saucy scenes as women flirting in lingerie with no . . . penetration? This is the book you thought would be something else (not porn) but is still, paradoxically, porn to you? Fine. Erotica, porn, who cares, but the fact that this turned out not to be a fashion book seems to, for some reason, anger people enough that rather than attempt, or fake, being as objective as possible it feels better to rant - rant is noted, and that rant is imbecilic.
So, it's not hard core porn if it is porn. and since the models are, largely, wearing nylons, satin, boots, heels, bras, lace lingerie, and decided - correctly - to not, for the sake of fashion, shave certain areas - now it's not hard core enough in the BDSM department. Not an authentic exploration of the overly-documented BDSM scene, since didn't you know, I says, that the truly magnificent and fabulous Randy Diller produced a book of BDSM images, in 1953!, that proved to be so groundbreaking and utterly exceptional that only twenty copies were ever printed -due to: insert censorship, maybe he was gay, maybe he was they, or perhaps pederast pony - and no reprints were commissioned, and yet I am still yelling at you for not knowing about the author or his work whilst I gleefully shame you in the presence of my kool pals, and we all laugh at you and how other readers of, "Revenge", haven't heard of, let alone, read, Diller's seminal work, "Yeah, I Guess It Hurt".
Anyway, it boils down to if you appreciate any of the following: attractive ladies with roaring 20's haircuts that are fond of wearing nothing but glossy lingerie as they fool around with each other on a vast French estate, in black and white. The photography is more than competent - I was surprised by how much hard, natural light was used for effect opposed to throwing up diffusion curtains all over and/or shooting with an older lens. These are not digital images, either, which, for a pretentious bore like me, is a point in the books favour. While it's unclear if the thin plot would be hurt by the editing out of certain images - I'm thinking a good number of the unfocused, soft shots - it wouldn't have been too large an error to remove a few.
Nonetheless, it creates a narcotic mood, removed from all worries, with a cast wandering about in a daze while seeking out pleasure. It's a strange sort of atmospheric erotic collage of pleasing locations, women, and photography.
September 4, 2019
There are better BDSM photographs/photographers out there. You might love this collection if you're browsing it for the art or technical quality, though.
March 6, 2024
the writing is the least stunning thing about this book but you really can't blame her for trying to make a photography series like this more special and unique
September 25, 2025
Beautiful erotic photos throughout with short stories included. This was a birthday gift from a Sardinian friend whilst away on holiday. I cheekily flipped through it on the plane back to the UK.
August 3, 2007
Delicious black and white photography of flawlessly beautiful fashion models in gorgeous high quality old style lingerie. The setting is outside a mansion in Europe. They fight and hose each other down, they embrace and chase and run. The binding is cloth and the size is semi compact.
March 30, 2007
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what decadence these playful shots embrace. even a raucous laughter can be enjoyed amidst the playful games of upstairs downstairs.
high contrast!
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what decadence these playful shots embrace. even a raucous laughter can be enjoyed amidst the playful games of upstairs downstairs.
high contrast!
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June 21, 2007
naughty and sexy and classy.
all at once.
all at once.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews