Nude Visions: 160 Years of Nude Photography

This volume spotlights the genre of nude photography, presenting for the first time 220 original pictures on the theme from the photography collection of the Munich City Museum, spanning the years from 1845 to 2005.In the course of six chapters, Nude Visions recounts a cultural history of nude photography. Masters from the respective periods are brought together here—starting with photographs from the early nineteenth century inspired by sculpted and painted images. This period is followed by the symbolist art of the fin de siècle, in which the nude becomes a mirror of psychic moods. Naturist images come next, segueing into the heroic physical ideal of National Socialism, the dream of the femme fatale, or the Orient as a motif for displaying nakedness. Finally, we are treated to the abstract and surrealist experiments of the twentieth century, accompanied by diverse scenarios in which the undressed body is shown in fashion and lifestyle photography. The male nude is also explored as an expression of homoerotic emancipation in imagery.Featured photographers include: Auguste Bellocq, Guy Bourdin, Josef Breitenbach, Francis Bruguière, František Drtikol, Frank Eugene, Gertrude Fehr, André Gelpke, Heinz Hajek-Halke, Franz Hanfstaengl, Fritz Henle, Martha Hoepffner, Louis Igout, André Kertesz, Germaine Krull, Lehnert & Landrock, Helmut Lederer, Cheyco Leidman, Herbert List, Manassé, Guglielmo Marconi, Will McBride, Pierre Molinier, Eadweard Muybridge, Serge Nazarieff, Floris M. Neusüss, Helmut Newton, Dennis Oppenheim, Guglielmo Plüschow, Franz Roh, Otto Steinert, Bert Stern, Alfred Stieglitz, Sasha Stone, Juergen Teller, Wilhelm von Gloeden, Gerhard Vormwald, and Edward Weston.