In Defense of Beauty [Hardcover]

Tom Bianchi (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 21, 1995

In Defense of Beauty is Bianchi's answer to his critics. This unabashed celebration of male beauty in word and pictures fills an important niche in the growing gay book market. Black-and-white photographs.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

In Defense of Beauty is Bianchi's answer to his critics. This unabashed celebration of male beauty in word and pictures fills an important niche in the growing gay book market. Black-and-white photographs.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 61 pages
• Publisher: Crown; 1st edition (November 21, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517702231
• ISBN-13: 978-0517702239
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 4.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,483,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tom Bianchi is one of the most published visual artists and writers in the world.

His nineteen books of photographs, poems, and essays primarily cover the gay male experience in a variety of contexts - from aesthetic philosophy - IN DEFENSE OF BEAUTY - to poetry to erotic photography. He is currently working on an album and stage presentation of some poems being set to song from his book MEN I'VE LOVED.

Tom was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago. He got a law degree at Northwestern and practiced corporate law for ten years. At thirty -four he left his position as Senior Counsel at Columbia Pictures, tore up his law degree, pasted it into a painting and had his first one man show with Betty Parsons and Carol Dreyfuss in New York. Shortly thereafter, Tom had his first major museum retrospective at the Spoleto Festival in 1984.

In 1990, St. Martins Press published OUT OF THE STUDIO, Tom's groundbreaking book of male nudes, frankly gay and affectionally connected. That book opened a door for more honest visions of gay men and a better understanding of their intimate lives. Thereafter, nineteen of Tom's books have been published, three documentary films about Tom's work have been distributed, and Tom's work has been published in more than thirty anthologies on the male nude. His ON THE COUCH series, DEEP SEX and EROTIC TRIGGERS deal with the expression of conscious sexual energy. This body of work has earned Tom respect as one of the most important artists dealing with erotic imagery and imagination. His body of work is the largest record ever made by a single artist of a culture's intimate life.

Tom also co-founded a biotech company, CytoDyn, developing a new therapy for treatment of HIV / AIDS.

TOMBIANCHI.com is Tom's website that includes detailed information on Tom and his work. Tom writes a blog which is a showcase for new work and the world as he sees it. The posts are fun, witty and sexy. And for people who want to go behind the scenes there is a huge archive of over 20,000 images with weekly updates in the Members Area.

Facebook: TOMBIANCHIFANPAGE - Here you will find updates on Tom's work and includes photo galleries from shoots as well as Tom's travels around the world.

Twitter: Follow Tom @tombianchi

You can reach Tom directly through all the places above if you are interested in being a subject of his books and films or are interested in collecting Tom's work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definition of Beauty, October 1, 2000

By 

Luis Hernandez (New York, New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Defense of Beauty (Hardcover)

Known for his homoerotic images, photographer Tom Bianchi gives us a small taste (and I really mean small, since this book is pocket-size) of male nudes mixed in with prose and quotes from several authors. While his black and white imagery has always captured the eyes of many, due to his excellent depiction of the most beautiful male bodies on the planet, Bianchi's books gives anyone a reason to define beauty the way they see it.

It is not necessary to look like an Adonis like most of the men in this book (not that wouldn't hurt if you were one), but the fact that most of the men featured in this book are over their 40's, some even HIV+, often can open our eyes that stereotypes can't often steal from beauty's definition.

Whether gay or not, whether an art student or admirer, this book will give you a small glimpse and taste from one of nude photography's greatest photographers. Although this book will appeal primarily to gay men, I wouldn't toss aside if you weren't. You might discover things you didn't realize by browsing through this book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an example of the height of Tom Bianchi's aesthetic purity, April 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: In Defense of Beauty (Hardcover)

Tom Bianchi has in recent years succumbed to the more base tendencies of the gay male community by focussing his work on graphic erotica and stereotypical "homoerotic" imagery. In Defense of Beauty represents a time in which his work was truly centered around the highest aesthetic potential of his subject matter and of the work he was producing. This book represents the frankest and clearest possible portrayal of the richness of his subject matter without descending into the less refined pornographic content of his current work.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Size isn't everything..., July 4, 2003

By 

Geoffery L. Williams (Somerset, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Defense of Beauty (Hardcover)

Don't let the small size fool you, this is a great little book. Tom Bianchi has been wowing the public and critics alike with his photos for years. Some have been critical that the only people who find themselves in his work are individuals who are utterly flawless. In the the book, In Defense of Beauty, Mr Bianchi answers his critics with a thought provoking essay and the stunning photographs for which he is so well known and loved. Not only does he answer his critics- he provides a frame of thought which, if applied to our everyday lives, can create a positive change in the least physically attractive individual and bring forth that beauty in their own everyday lives. Attitude is truely the first step to not only inner beauty but of sharing a love for yourself and those around us in our daily lives. Get this book, you won't be sorry!