A complete retrospective of Czech photographer, Jan Saudek, this work features over 150 of his nudes and erotic photographic pieces.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Jan Saudek's deeply erotic and personal photographs have rarely been seen outside europe. It is remarkable that most of them were produced under communist rule. Saudek's hand-coloration is absolutely unique. His studio is a cellar and the peeling brick walls his trademark. This book is an excellent example of his work
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Jan Saudek is the most important artist of his type. This beautiful hard-cover edition has many of Jan's most obscure work as well as some of his earlier works, many of which can not be found anywhere else. I have been amazed by this work and recommend it to anyone. It shows both the power and the development of Jan. We can see his style change from a wide eyed-ideailst to a bitter man, consumed with the evils of life and the horrors of humanity. Jan Saudek is truley the master.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I ran across this publication in a used book barn and thumbed through it. What I saw made me wonder what kind of a violent lunatic Jan Saudek is, and what kind of a sadistic perverted mind would create such photos? But something about the book peeked my interest. I reminded myself that I am an artist, so I at least owed it to the photographer to objectively evaluate his work, so I did...two more times, from cover to cover, and quite thoroughly. What I discovered was a myriad of hidden and intwerwoven themes, many which had almost no relation at all to the photos themselves, and which all tied into one central theme. Whether this is a collection of political, moral, ethical, and social issues can only be known for sure by Jan Saudek, but all these things can be deduced if you put forth the effort and see with an artist's eye. Perhaps my favorite two photos in the entire book is one where a nude woman is sitting upright with her legs folded behind her head as she peers through a set of binoculars, and a photo of an overweight woman standing naked with large dark freckles and rosy cheeks painted on her face. They are humorous but quite thought provoking if you get past the initial images and attempt to interpret what the artist is saying. I can almost assure you that nudity or eroticism are not the issues at all. Another set of photos shows Jan lighting a cigarette. His head is shaved. In the opposing photo a woman has a pistol in her mouth. Both are killing themselves, but in different ways. It really appears to go much deeper than that, but I do not have time to explain all that I and a friend interpret from those photos. Two others that hit a sore spot, however, are: one where Jan is walking off into a rainbow with a stick slung across his shoulder and a small rag full of his bare necessities suspended from the pole. Someone who appears to be his wife is inside a barren house. She appears to be crying as she peers through a window and watches him departing. The other photo is of Jan kissing a woman as they both lie in a field, while in the distance another woman is hanging by her neck from a tree branch. These two photos spoke clear messages to me...the man leaves his true love for happier days and greener pastures, not understanding that his quest for selfish satisfaction is killing the one who truly loves him and with whom he has the most promise of happiness. These, of course, are only my own interpretations. I HIGHLY recommend you take your time viewing this book, and avoid being overly judgemental of it at first. It is truly not what it seems, and is certainly one of the best marriages of art and photography on the market.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
"If a photograph doesn't tell a story...
... it's not a photograph, I say."
That captures just one side of this complex collection. A child kisses a woman's grandly pregnant belly (p. Read more
That captures just one side of this complex collection. A child kisses a woman's grandly pregnant belly (p. Read more
Published on April 24, 2008 by wiredweird
Racy!
Last year, we spent the winter holiday in Eastern Europe, and mostly in Prague. We ate at a very swanky restaurant that featured the photographs of Jan Saudek all over its walls. Read more
Published on January 10, 2008 by Jenn K.
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