The Century of the Body: 100 Photoworks 1900-2000 [Hardcover]

William A. Ewing (Editor), Christophe Blazer (Author), Nassim Daghighian (Author), Daniel Girardin (Author), Nathalie Herschdorfer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2000

This book represents 100 of the finest and most fascinating examples of body-centred photography from the 20th century. Art photographers included are Stieglitz, Man Ray, Brassai, Cunningham, Brandt and Mapplethorpe, alongside greats of scientific image-making like Nilsson and Hutchings.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The portrait was a staple of photography from the medium's birth, and so was pornography. It took the late-nineteenth-century tide of scientific, artistic, and social innovation, however, to sweep the shame out of aesthetically scrutinizing the photographed body, and it would take most of the succeeding century for photographers and viewers to see anything artful in old bodies and in body parts. At least, such a course of development seems apparent in photographic museum director Ewing's chronological presentation of 100 images dating from 1900 to 2000. Naked youngsters predominate early on, while toward the end, such images as those of skinny, heavily veined arms; a naked 90-year-old woman; a hairy, soapy man's back; and the computer-assisted rendering of a room made of flesh challenge aesthetic acceptance. Ewing's informative and thought-provoking commentaries on the pictures aid in successfully meeting their challenges. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

The collected pictures trace a century's worth of aesthetic shifts and approaches in photographing the human body. -- Minneapolis Star Tribune, L.K. Hanson, 26 November 2000

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson; 1ST edition (November 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500510121
• ISBN-13: 978-0500510124
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 9.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,558,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, diverse compilation of body images, March 16, 2001

By 

J. Lizzi (Costa Mesa, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Century of the Body: 100 Photoworks 1900-2000 (Hardcover)

Editor William A. Ewing has put together a well-structured presentation of photoworks taken from exhibitions in Lisbon (1999) and Lausanne (2000). I was as impressed with the organization of this book as I was with the photographic artwork itself.

The foreword gives a nice explantion of the how the book tries to capture the essense of the European exhibition, and is followed by a dozen or so pages chronicling the evolution of photographic science and human body photography through the 1900's. Mr. Ewing, who is Director of the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne, definitely knows his stuff; this is interesting reading.

The one hundred photos (all b/w except for a handful) are displayed in chronological order, and in much the same way as a museum would: photograph on the right-hand page; title and credit on the left. A major plus is the insightful commentary about the artists and their photographic styles which accompanies each photo credit. In keeping with the gallery presentation, thirteen themes are evidenced in this collection, the most prominent being "Expression," "Form," "Politics," "Fiction," and "Flesh."

"The Century of the Body" portrays many photographic genres: Pictorialism, Modernism, Surrealism, body art, fashion and even endoscopic photography. Noteworthy contributors include Stieglitz, Imogen Cunningham, Man Ray, Weston, Avedon and Mapplethorpe. Every image made me look a long time; none were lewd or offensive. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in photographic style, or simply . . . art.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Artistic, Commercial, Political and Scientific Body Views, July 4, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Century of the Body: 100 Photoworks 1900-2000 (Hardcover)

Review Summary: This book and the exhibition it documents convey a stunning awareness of how photographing the body has evolved in the last 100 years. The essays and commentaries on the 100 works are excellent for describing the movements involved as well as the photographers. For most people, this will be a better book to borrow and read from the library rather than to purchase for permanent use. Many of the book's images involve pornography, horrible suffering, disfigurement, and other unsettling subjects that you will want to be moved by but probably not linger over.

Reader Caution: The images in this book would exceed an R rating if the book's content were in a motion picture.

Review: Photography and views of the human body have shifted enormously in the last 100 years. This extremely interesting book does a great job of exploring those shifts. It also conjectures forward into the world in which the combination of mastering genetics and body reshaping methods (like plastic surgery) will provide even more choice. The book will be of most interest to those who are not very familiar with the history of photography since the images and essays cover little new ground.

The essay is extremely thorough and interesting in explaining the book's themes which are:

Flesh -- the naked body to appeal to the prurient rather than the artistic

Microcosm -- microscopic images of the body's interior

Gaze -- the public part of the body, especially the face and eyes

Memory -- the aid to the mind's recollection

Icon -- the idealized body

Form -- the artistic nude

Pain -- the suffering body

Politics -- meanings and values are contested

Enquiry -- scientific investigation

Fiction -- images, dreams, and fantasies

Macrocosm -- a single human body in relation to the universe.

My favorite images in the book were mostly old favorites:

Man Ray, 1924, Violin d'Ingres;

Imogen Cunningham, 1932, Nude;

Sasha Stone, 1933, Study of the Human Body;

Leni Riefenstahl, 1936, Jesse Owens;

Edward Weston, 1936, Nude;

Louise Dahl-Wolfe, 1948, Nude in the Desert;

Gerhard Kiesling, 1952, Miners;

Don McCullen, 1969, Albino Boy in a Camp of 900 Dying Children, Biafra;

Nick Ut, 1972, Napalm Bomb Attack, Vietnam;

Lennart Nilsson, 1973, A Human Foetus at Three Months;

Hermut Newton, 1981, Sie kommen (naked and dressed), Paris;

Robert Mapplethorpe, 1982, Lisa Lyon.

I suspect that the book would have worked better if it had narrowed its focus to a single theme. Perhaps such works will follow.

Those who see their favorite photographs in this book will often be a little disappointed that their size and reproduction are a little on the smallish side and below top grade.

After you use these images and essays to capture a better sense of what the body has been all about, perhaps you could take a moment to think about what your body means to you. How can you create a more positive connection with your body? How can you draw more strength from it? How can you enjoy being at one with your body?

Draw upon images of what is . . . to create plans to build what is better for all!

2 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars REVIEW, January 30, 2001

By 

"bigwossum" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Century of the Body: 100 Photoworks 1900-2000 (Hardcover)

I really liked this book. My wife also liked this book. Thank you Mr. William A. Ewing!