Ruth Bernhard:The Eternal Body: A Collection of Fifty Nudes

by Ruth Bernhard (contributor), Margaretta Mitchell (editor)

For over half a century, acclaimed photographer Ruth Bernhard has worked to "simplify, isolate, and give emphasis to form with greatest clarity" in her radiant photographs of the female nude. Now, with Chronicle Books' timely reissue of her best-selling volume, The Eternal Body, Bernhard's most evocative images are once again available in a superb collection, complete with an insightfill text, that pays tribute to a living legend. Hauntingly sensual yet classically reserved, the book's ethereal duotone photographs appear to be illuminated from within so that even the simplest lines of the human form -- a draped torso, a curved neck, an angled limb -- take on a complexity not often seen in work of this kind. A master artist whose technical prowess places her among the ranks of the greatest photographers of our time, Ruth Bernhard has created a masterpiece of expression and sensitivity in The Eternal Body.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, Art and Photography, Art

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1986

Reviews

[KOMET · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a photography book that attests to the work of one of the 20th century's finest photographers, Ruth Bernhard (1905-2006). There are 50 black & white photographic images, spanning from the 1930s to the 1970s, of the female nude that highlights the relationship of the feminine form to the universe. In Bernhard's own words: "By recognizing the model's presence as an eternal symbol of life and all existence. I experience my own identity ... as a woman I strongly identify with my model."

[l · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I remember the nudes of the 1939-40 US Annual. There was a girl on a stool flirting with the photographer. She was supposed to be pleasing to everyone. It made me mad!… I wanted to express the dignity and simplicity of what it is like to BE a woman without thinking in terms of sexual interest.

In our society, the average attitude of the male toward the female is not respectful. It is irrational. It always comes down to possession. Some photographs of nude women show that men really don’t know what they are photographing. They only see the part which interests them, or they distort or dismember the body in ways that are a form of abuse.

I don’t feel that one needs to do anything to make the body appear more sensual. Men have photographed the female nude as if she belonged to them. I photograph a woman as part of the universe.”

Her photographs are beautiful and I can appreciate that even if the range is very limited.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover looked quite promising. But what about the inside of the book? To be honest I'd expected more. You see the female body in black and white in different poses. The lighting is interesting the rest not so much. I somehow missed the atmosphere in the pictures. But that only is my personal opinion. Technically the nudes might be brilliant. Recommended for art lovers.