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Rating: 
Summary: A creative gem of nude photography not to be missed!
Review: As a professional photographer, Richard Selby spent much of his career doing what most photographers do, namely working for a living - which entailed shooting color photos geared towards the commercial tastes of various magazine and publishing professionals. And admittedly, Selby was very successful in this area. But after working in Europe for many years, his return to New York in 1976 prompted him to start shooting more for himself, and it was during this period that he started experimenting with the nude figure, shooting in black & white. The results from this "personal renaissance" are extraordinary and make up the bulk of this work. This is a large, hardcover, gorgeous production, consisting of 126 pages of nude photography where the artist was truly inspired to showcase the nude female in new and invigorating ways. It's difficult to believe that most of these photographs were created in the 1970's. There is a timeless quality to them and calling this work "vintage" would be completely off the mark. Most appear as though they could have been taken in 2003, and this is undoubtedly due to Selby's cutting edge vision at the time he created this work as well as the natural and superbly creative manner in which her worked with his subjects. There are seven individual bodies of work here: Angie and Louie, Umbra, Sphinx, Barber's Chair, Nike, Plein Air, and Fetish, and each is explored in a thoroughly engaging way. Selby's style definitely leans towards the creative, but make no mistake - these nudes are a sensual expose of what one can do when a photographer decides to become an artist.
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