Premiere Nudes

Rating:
Summary: Opens with a general history of American nudism
Review: Albert Arthur Allen's Premiere Nudes is a 'must' for any collection following the history and presentation of nudes in photography: it opens with a general history of American nudism and follows Allen's contributions and many different images in particular, packing full-page black and white images throughout.

Rating:
Summary: You know the poster; you probably don't know much more
Review: Albert Arthur Allen's works in the book are from the 1920's. I had a poster at home of one of his pictures, but never made the connection until I got the book. The pictures are in the style of artist's studies, with full frontal nudity. This actually got him continually in legal problems since that type of picture was forbidden in the time of Comstock and his fellow travelers seeking to make the world safe from such 'disgusting immoral pictures'. Most of the women are Caucasians and the background reading material in the book makes some interesting observations as to how he categorized his models.
It is relatively easy to find posters of his works in galleries and art shops, and even in mail order catalogs. They are relatively innocent now, but 'evil' for the 1920's, at least to some people. This book is a very good look into the early days of the 20th Century and the photography of the nude. The quality of the pictures and the book is very high. As a historical perspective of the female nude in photography, this book is highly recommended. The pictures are figure studies, and those seeking erotic pictures should look elsewhere. However, one must be thankful for daring photographers such as Mr. Allen, who blazed the trails for future nude photographers. His work was in a different vein than that of Weston.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Graceful Figure Studies
Review: If you have ever looked at some of the finer French (or American, or British) postcards of nude figures and found yourself drwn to the natural grace that many exhibit you will appreciate the work of Albert Arther Allen.

Allen was a San Francisco photographer who, in the 1920's, made his way by catering to a small clientele that collected 'boudoir photography.' His photography was pretty soft core by today's standards, but they were serious erotic photography in their time. Unlike the artistic nude tradition of later times, Allen's work has a natural intimacy and grace that make his pictures very approachable on many levels.

The poses are very academic, designed as compositions, perhaps with a tale to tell, as well as carefully posed studies of the female form. The images are delicate and exhibit a fine control over the photographic process.

Allen had no great artistic pretensions and was something of a 'naturist.' Today, with our jaded eyes, we will often perceive his efforts as high camp. But they really are more than that, and worth some study.

The edition is the typical, lush Twin Palms effort, finely printed with extensive use of color plates to capture the images perfectly. A book to appreciate and enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: A Case Study in the Difficulties of Creating Fine Nudes
Review: The great photographers make nudes look natural and simple. A great deal of art lies behind their representations. You need capable models, the right setting, a way to create a mood for the model, great lighting, superb reproductions, appropriate cropping, and the ability to throw out most of what you do. Albert Arthur Allen was a pioneer in photographing the nude who lacked many of these skills, so you can learn a lot by seeing what was right and wrong about his efforts. The book's essay is superb for describing Mr. Allen's life, work, and the context of photography at the time he created these images. His work is very beautifully reproduced here.

Mr. Allen will probably be remembered primarily as a pioneer in presenting full frontal female nudity. For this, he spent many years being prosecuted as a pornographer. The images here surpass in being explicit what you would see in an "R" rated movie.

Mr. Allen's best work was from 1916-1923 when he worked outdoors with naturists. The work will remind you of Jock Sturges's images. These were often modestly done, and create a wonderful mood of outdoor idylls. I enjoyed almost all of these works, which he referred to as Alo Studies.

He was permanently disabled in 1923 in an accident and had to work indoors thereafter. Mr. Allen was not a good studio photographer. His models were often awkward, they were posed in artificial ways that are often unappealing, and he published a lot of subpar images. His best studio work was of individuals posed to look like classic statuary.

Supported by a wealthy family until he went bankrupt in 1927, Mr. Allen had enormous sums to spend on his work. He published a lot despite having had only one solo show. He was able to hire as many models as he wanted.

Without having to pass critical tests, his work went off on tangents. He had strange ideas about how the physical type of a person determined other things about them. He did "classifying" photography to help establish these types. One cannot help but feel that this was in some ways a psychological cover to legitimize his fascination with naked, comely young women. Undoubtedly, his disability may have played a psychological role here.

At his worst, the work is exploitive. Imogen Cunningham was doing outstanding nudes at the same time, and the contrast could not be stronger. I thought his work in "The Boudoir" showed this tendency the most. The work in "Vacation" looked like an early Playboy pictorial.

Overall, his style came closest to Pictorialism, featuring a soft focus and carefully retouched or painted over "private" areas.

After you finish enjoying this book's good points, perhaps you would benefit from thinking about the importance of capturing truth in expression. Where do you see, hear, touch and feel truth being expressed? How can you tell? Why does the essential truth touch us so much more than artifice that misses the truth?

See past the images being represented to capture the essence of what is being revealed.

Rating:
Summary: A Case Study in the Difficulties of Creating Fine Nudes
Review: The great photographers make nudes look natural and simple. A great deal of art lies behind their representations. You need capable models, the right setting, a way to create a mood for the model, great lighting, superb reproductions, appropriate cropping, and the ability to throw out most of what you do. Albert Arthur Allen was a pioneer in photographing the nude who lacked many of these skills, so you can learn a lot by seeing what was right and wrong about his efforts. The book's essay is superb for describing Mr. Allen's life, work, and the context of photography at the time he created these images. His work is very beautifully reproduced here.

Mr. Allen will probably be remembered primarily as a pioneer in presenting full frontal female nudity. For this, he spent many years being prosecuted as a pornographer. The images here surpass in being explicit what you would see in an "R" rated movie.

Mr. Allen's best work was from 1916-1923 when he worked outdoors with naturists. The work will remind you of Jock Sturges's images. These were often modestly done, and create a wonderful mood of outdoor idylls. I enjoyed almost all of these works, which he referred to as Alo Studies.

He was permanently disabled in 1923 in an accident and had to work indoors thereafter. Mr. Allen was not a good studio photographer. His models were often awkward, they were posed in artificial ways that are often unappealing, and he published a lot of subpar images. His best studio work was of individuals posed to look like classic statuary.

Supported by a wealthy family until he went bankrupt in 1927, Mr. Allen had enormous sums to spend on his work. He published a lot despite having had only one solo show. He was able to hire as many models as he wanted.

Without having to pass critical tests, his work went off on tangents. He had strange ideas about how the physical type of a person determined other things about them. He did "classifying" photography to help establish these types. One cannot help but feel that this was in some ways a psychological cover to legitimize his fascination with naked, comely young women. Undoubtedly, his disability may have played a psychological role here.

At his worst, the work is exploitive. Imogen Cunningham was doing outstanding nudes at the same time, and the contrast could not be stronger. I thought his work in "The Boudoir" showed this tendency the most. The work in "Vacation" looked like an early Playboy pictorial.

Overall, his style came closest to Pictorialism, featuring a soft focus and carefully retouched or painted over "private" areas.

After you finish enjoying this book's good points, perhaps you would benefit from thinking about the importance of capturing truth in expression. Where do you see, hear, touch and feel truth being expressed? How can you tell? Why does the essential truth touch us so much more than artifice that misses the truth?

See past the images being represented to capture the essence of what is being revealed.

Rating:
Summary: You know the poster; you probably don't know much more
Review: This book covers the history, social situation and product of Albert Arthur Allen. Albert Allen worked in the 1920s and his book and photographic work reflect the concepts of beauty at that time. The hairstyles and props as well as the figures reflect the times. This was a time period when nudes in sculpture and painting were okay but in photography it was not considered art but generally considered pornography. Albert Allen forged ahead in spite of all of this. The first part of the book covers his work, ideas (although many of them were quite strange) and photographs that are of an anatomical guide style. Full frontal and rear photographs of what are mostly slightly overweight models by today's standard of beauty but consistently in line with concepts of beauty during the 1920s. While a fascinating read and study of Albert Arthur Allen, most of the photography is very average by today's standards. Then again there were some series that showed true genius in artistic composition and use of light. A fine example of this is the Alo Studies taken from 1916-1923. They resemble Maxfield Parrish�s work but with nudes. Instead of a study of nudes like most of the rest of the book they are a study in composition, light and art. If you study Albert Arthur Allen as an artistic study or his life as a study of where photography of nudes as an art form has come from then this is an excellent book. Even as a study in sociology this is an interesting book to see how concepts of beauty and acceptance of nude photography as an art form have changed over the years. His concepts of sociology, culture and racial differences and how they affected his photography are fascinating to read.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting book
Review: This book covers the history, social situation and product of Albert Arthur Allen. Albert Allen worked in the 1920s and his book and photographic work reflect the concepts of beauty at that time. The hairstyles and props as well as the figures reflect the times. This was a time period when nudes in sculpture and painting were okay but in photography it was not considered art but generally considered pornography. Albert Allen forged ahead in spite of all of this. The first part of the book covers his work, ideas (although many of them were quite strange) and photographs that are of an anatomical guide style. Full frontal and rear photographs of what are mostly slightly overweight models by today's standard of beauty but consistently in line with concepts of beauty during the 1920s. While a fascinating read and study of Albert Arthur Allen, most of the photography is very average by today's standards. Then again there were some series that showed true genius in artistic composition and use of light. A fine example of this is the Alo Studies taken from 1916-1923. They resemble Maxfield Parrish's work but with nudes. Instead of a study of nudes like most of the rest of the book they are a study in composition, light and art. If you study Albert Arthur Allen as an artistic study or his life as a study of where photography of nudes as an art form has come from then this is an excellent book. Even as a study in sociology this is an interesting book to see how concepts of beauty and acceptance of nude photography as an art form have changed over the years. His concepts of sociology, culture and racial differences and how they affected his photography are fascinating to read.

Rating:
Summary: A TRUE MASTERPIECE!!!
Review: This book is masterpiece! It might even be one of the most important books on nude photography ever published - it's that good. First of all, it's a huge and scholarly look at the life and work of photographer Albert Arthur Allen. The first forty or so pages are all text describing the life and times of the photographer. The information is fascinating and will prove quite insightful to anyone interested in the 1920's and 1930's, especially from an artistic and photographic perspective. And then there are the pictures ... Wow! The hardcover book itself is 10x10 and contains 256 pages of absolutely beautiful, pure, pristine, nude-oriented erotica. Full frontal nudity in all its glory is what made Allen a marked man by many of the "morality police" as well as the legal authorities at the time. And it's what really sets him apart from most of his contemporaries like Imogene Cunningham and Edward Weston, who were considered genuine and legitimate members of San Francisco's art community.

Allen's work could certainly be seen as a reflection of the "high-flying spirit of the Roaring Twenties" and seemed to appeal less to the art collectors of the time than it did to gentlemen who in later times would be fancying Playboy and Penthouse. This is not meant to impugn the artistic merit of Allen's work at all, just the opposite. Allen was just a lot more daring than his peers and this generated an electrifying element of excitement to his photographs, something can still be felt to this day. Initially, a lot of his models were fellow naturists, but towards the end of the 20's he started to recruit more from newspaper advertisements, targeting women who had come to California to chase dreams of stardom. Allen's young women were "clearly crossing the line of acceptable behavior for a proper woman - and they new it." That's exactly what makes this work so exciting, so deliciously naughty. Do whatever you have to do to get your hands on this book - it will not disappoint.