Naked Men : Pioneering Male Nudes, 1935-1955

Rating:
Summary: A Look at the Intentions of Naked Radicals
Review: This book is not for those searching out eye-candy. While the pictures are beautifully photographed examples of the male body, it is not a pornographic work. It is a study of the attitudes and intentions behind the models and photographers on display. It is about the movement they inspired that has gotten terribly out of control with the various perversions of extremist pornographers that tout the word 'art' as if it could be applied to ever speck of waste upon every piece of toilet paper. This work does not agree with such a mentality. The pictures are tasteful and sincere. It is for those interested in art history, not a quick thrill.

Rating:
Summary: A Look at the Intentions of Naked Radicals
Review: This book is not for those searching out eye-candy. While the pictures are beautifully photographed examples of the male body, it is not a pornographic work. It is a study of the attitudes and intentions behind the models and photographers on display. It is about the movement they inspired that has gotten terribly out of control with the various perversions of extremist pornographers that tout the word 'art' as if it could be applied to ever speck of waste upon every piece of toilet paper. This work does not agree with such a mentality. The pictures are tasteful and sincere. It is for those interested in art history, not a quick thrill.

Rating:
Summary: AH---- WHAT A MAN!
Review: This book is the early Playgirl magazine, but better. Oh what form, style, and very tasteful. The book contains male models, modeling nude in the mid 1930's through the 1950's. Those were the times where posing nude was unacceptable. The book also tells the stories of the model's lives, then and now.

Rating:
Summary: This book just becomes more important with time
Review: When David Leddick first published NAKED MEN: PIONEERING MALE NUDES 1935 - 1955 in the year 1997, many readers voiced the opinion that other photographers' books admiring the beauty of the masculine physique were far superior, more provocative, more erotic, and so forth. What is becoming more evident now six years later is just how sensitive Leddick's writing is and how insightful this study remains. His premise - to address artists who either photographed, painted or drew the male nude in a period of time when the male nude as subject was verboten - reveals a brave period of history in gender studies. Leddick shares many images of young men and pairs those images with current (at the time of his writing) views of those pictured models. This could be a gimick if it stopped there, but Leddick has the sensitivity to focus on truly significant artists, allowing us insights not avialable elsewhere in the literature. A long portion is devoted, naturally, to George Platt Lynes who more than most photographers devoted his camera to captruing the 'compleat' persona of artists such as Jared French, Christopher Isherwood, Yul Brynner and well established studio models. What he shows us are the photographs taken from 1935 - 1955 and then shares photographs of those models today. He also visits Lincoln Kirsten, Paul Cadmus, Lew Christensen, and Tennessee Williams and has many interesting anecdotes which he shares in well written prose. This is not a book of homoerotica (though the models both young and old are beautifully captured). This is a vital volume of history that makes as interesting a treat for the mind as it does for the eye. Especially recommended for the collector who has Leddick's later books - this preludes the spectrum of what is to come.