Venus: Masterpieces of Modern Erotic Photography

by Michelle Olley

Book Overview

After bringing us Adonis, a beautiful collection of male nude photography, Michelle Olley returns with a companion book of images of the female form. The female nude has a long and fascinating history, from Boticelli's Venus to the covers of contemporary fashion magazines such as Vanity Fair and Marie Claire. Although the nude has been developed in many ways, it continually captivates the photographer and the viewer alike. Venus is a celebration and...

• Format: Paperback
• ISBN: 1842221396
• ISBN13: 9781842221396
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Running Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 2.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.8" x 0.5" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Expanded Views of the Ideal Female

Venus contains more than 150 images provided by almost 50 photographers. Anyone who would like to see a variety of perspectives on the ideal female and modern views of physical relationships will find images that are pleasing. The range of work goes from modest views of clothed women and shots of backs to more aggressive works involving leather, lacy under garments, and multiple intimate partners. Yet the work is always more thoughtful than stimulating. Fans of classic female forms will be interested to see how that style has been expanded to capture subtle effects of reflections on water, multiple shadows, and connections between models. Those who are interested in body piercing and tattoos will find many interesting images of how these tastes affect female images. The book begins with a fine essay about the classic photographic undraped form, and how the concepts behind that expression have been successfully challenged and changed in the last 30 years or so. The major weakness of the book is that the reproduction doesn't always capture the full mystery of some of the works built around subtleties of light and focus. A minor weakness is that captions and credits are kept to a minimum. There are brief paragraphs about each photographer so you can get a flavor of how each photographer's work is aimed. I apologize for having to reference my favorite works by page number, but there's no alternative. Outstanding works to me included Bob Carlos Clark (p. 24), Michael Childers (p. 29), Wolfgang Eichler (p. 36), Hideki Fujii (p. 47), Steve Diet Goedde (p. 59), Sandro Hyams (p. 69), George Platt Lynes (p. 134), Philip Porcella (p. 137), Cat de Rham (p. 145), Sharam Sanai (p. 158), Marco Sanger (pp. 162-167), Sarah Saudek (p. 172), Jan Saudek (p. 174), Leeanne Schmidt (p. 180), Nigel Scott (p. 189), Jeanloup Sieff (p. 191), Del Lagrace Volcano (p. 196), Katrina Webb (p. 214), and Ben Westwood (pp. 219-220, 222). This book got me to thinking about the qualities that I admire most in women, and provides many possible models. I was especially impressed by the works that emphasized the model's personality, as much of the best celebrity photography does well. How have your ideas changed about the ideal female?

Erotica from the glossies

This book is beautiful. The reproduction quality is superb, with large images organized by photographer in alphabetical order, no nonsensical verse or smarmy text included. Michelle Olley's introduction and photographer bios are succinct and interesting. Credits/titles for the photos serve as the table of contents -- terrific idea. Oh, um, the pictures, yeah. They are the really beautiful component, of course. There are more than 150, and the emphasis is definitely EROTIC, with nothing from the cool, abstract world of the fine art nude, and very little that would qualify as standard sex magazine content. Many of the photographers here also have websites, so even if readers only used the book as a guide to what to seek on the internet, it would be well worth the price. "Venus" is an amazing and delicious survey.