Customer Reviews

Eva: Eloge De Ma Fille

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Separated from her parents at a young age, French-born Irina Ionesco was raised by her grandmother in Romania. Despite the love and attention showered upon her by her Grandmother and her uncles she always felt the sadness of her missing mother and father. Tragedy struck again when the "man of her life", her beloved husband suffered an early death. But before departing from this world, they shared in the joy of giving birth to the little girl that Irina says, "had always been part of my dreams". But even this joyous event was a struggle, for Eva, as she was named, had to fight to live the first month of her life, as a birthing mistake necessitated that she spend her early days in an incubator.

Irena recalls that it was her prayers that saved her baby girl. "She was the most wonderful thing that could happen. In order to maintain every moment of this irreplaceable dream, she turned into the most beautiful little girl of all time...She personified an angel."

This book is a mesmerizing collection of photographs, that were themselves a tribute to that little girl who became Irina's whole world. Much of the work was and remains controversial. Irena captured her little girl in various states of undress, often dolled-up adorned with makeup and jewelry. Despite its controversy, Irina's material with Eva is her most famous body work and fans of this collection with love this book. Unlike Irina's other books, where images of Eva are part of her larger body of work, this one is centered completely around what she created with her beloved daughter. As a single publication of Irina Ionesco's work, Eva: Eloge De Ma Fille stands as the masterpiece that every great artist deserves. This is a must have for all serious collectors.

This is an amazing body of work, and one might think it was done in the 1920's as the style is sort of the flapper mode. Irina chronicles her daughter as she grows from a young child to a young women. It is disturbing as one cannot look at the pictures of Eva as a young child and not think of the tragedy of Jon Benet. Eva as a little child is made up as a siren with a combination of innocence and provocation. That combination is what makes this such a compelling body of work, but also perhaps disturbing. More than one photo seemed to have some white specks, either from dust on the negative or a problem in printing. The composition and settings show a fine eye for photography and this is a wonderful collection. There is a lushness to the settings and a great variety. In the shots where Eva is looking directly at the camera, she appears to be looking right through the viewer. One will not forget these great shots.

These are some beautiful photos of a very adored little girl.
The printing job on this book is impeccable and definitely
worth adding to the library. If you are interested in photography
at all there are some very nice examples of child photography
in here. If you want to see photos of a child that is loved to the
point of being idolized you will find that in here as well.
My only complaint is that there were tons of color photos taken
of Eva and this book is only black-and-white.

ALL OF THE IMAGES ARE DEVOTED TO EVA ! SHE HAS THE BODY OF A YOUNG GIRL BUT THE COMPOSURE AND ATTITUDE OF A SEDUCTIVE WOMAN. I AM NOT BOTHERED BY HER AGE, SOME WOULD BE. NOTHING IN THIS BOOK IS DISTURBING ,JUST BEAUTIFUL SHOTS OF A LOVELY GIRL. ALL BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS. I WOULD HAVE PREFERRED SOME COLOR IMAGES MIXED IN.

Irina Ionesco's wonderful book; "Eva: Eloge De Ma Fille" is well worth the purchase price. Irina's daughter Eva is one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen in my life. Excellent photography by Irina Ionesco.

This is a large coffee-table sized photography book measuring 9½ x 12½ inches. It is also one of the most unique, beautiful, evocative, emotive, praiseworthy, loving & disturbing photography books I have ever viewed.
Irina Ionesco became a well-known photographer, primarily of nude women. She was born in Romania, married a Hungarian & eventually settled in France & did most of her work in Paris.
In 1965, Irina begins photographing her daughter, Eva. Eva is three. Irina photographs Eva in the nude, seminude & provocatively clothed. She continues doing this for many years. Some of these photos were published in photography magazines, some in book collections, some just passed around from person to person.
Over the years these photos became famous. Women as well as men enjoyed viewing these photos. For some reason, young women especially enjoyed these photos. Perhaps, because they saw their own flowering of womanhood in them? According to the publisher of this volume, the biggest fans of these photos in the early 2000s were young Japanese women.
This is the first comprehensive collection of the Eva photos ever to be published. This volume contains 124 of these acclaimed photos. All are in black & white. (There are an additional fourteen photos published in color in a later collection.) In this volume, Eva is photographed from the age of three to approximately the age of twelve.
The photos are all full page ones. They are lovingly reproduced on thick paper stock. The design & production quality of this volume are tremendous. The included essays, including one by Irina herself, are enlightening & make the viewer feel less like a voyeur & more like an appreciator of fine art.
I wish Eva herself had written an essay because she currently lives & works in Paris & collaborated on creating this volume. The photos are very evocative & could not have taken place without the working collaboration of mother & daughter; of photographer & subject.
As Irina wrote, "The liberty I took in baring her is innocent. She personified a modern angel. 1965, 1970, 1975, and 1978 were years of poetic freedom . . . in my gaze the greatest love of all took place."