Customer Reviews

Embracing Men

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Klaus Gerhart's book of black and white male nudes is full of young male beauty. Gerhart is less narrative than Bruce Weber in that his nudes are rarely playful, or moving, or interacting in any other way other than embracing. Gerhart is less slick than Herb Ritts with over the top fashion models. Rather, Klaus Gerhart appears to wish to show the beauty of the male as a natural phenomena, much like the beauty of nature. He contrasts his nudes against rocks and boulder, driftwood, caves and caverns and sand dunes. He is not interested in protraiture. Only a few photographs demonstrate a handsome face, most focus on the body and obscure the face. The fact that the faces are not fully revealed, and the bodies are contrasted against natural forms, allows the bone and muscle structure of the male to be highlighted. His range is very good. Notice his photograph of two men kissing and trace the line where their two faces meet. Notice the underwater nudes as seen through rain disturbed waters. There is a quite tranquility about the work. We expect to hear boys playing and dogs barking with Bruce Weber. We expect to hear club music in the background when we look at Herb Ritts. With Gerhart, we expect to hear wind in the pines and dunes.

This large format soft-cover book contains some truly stunning images. The plates are all B&W, a medium that conspires to allow the photographer to present his subjects without distraction.

Some of the most startling photographs show men in conjunction with some amazing natural rock formations allowing the viewer to conspire with the view that man is a hard beast, yet as the subjects are totally dominated by nature one is also forced to accept how weak and small a man is.

One striking fact about all the images is that they have a misty quality which works well and I hope is not an error in the book production. Well worth adding to your collection of male erotica.

The tranquility of Klaus Gerhart's work reminds us of the naivete and peacefulness of the style of photography popular until the 1930's. He photographs as if in a state of perfect selflessness, he and his camera merging with his models in a perfect unity.