Customer Reviews

Black Bodies

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I found that this book wasnt that great. Far too many of the photos are silhouettes or very shadowy and not in an artistic way. I bought this book at the same time I bought Beautiful: Nudes by Marc Baptiste and in comparison, it made this book look even worse. If you want a great book with photos of beautiful(artistic, not smutty) naked women, go with Beautiful: Nudes instead.

The images presented here by Mr. Allen represent an insightful and imaginative celebration of the black female form. Mr. Allen Photos are clean, honest, unadorned and subtly sensuous. The endless variety of textures, tones and forms of the black female body are creatively presented through the eye of a true craftsman. In this offering it is the art.... not the nudity that is most compelling. I'm looking forward to more of Mr. Allen's work.

One wonderful thing about human variety is that it brings so many different faces and figures to the word "beauty." Allen devotes this book to one range of that beauty, the one dominated by its African heritage. Even that, as these photos show, covers a fair range in itself.

Many of these photos focus on the hair, the curves, the lovely faces, and other features that distinguish black beauty from the other kinds. The net effect, to my eye, does not set black beauty apart. Instead, these photos display the beauty common to women everywhere, with a few genetic highlights to remind the viewer just varied that can be. This brings an enjoyable and welcome complement to collections that often under-represent this branch of the human family.

-- wiredweird