Customer Reviews

Eric Kroll's Fetish Girls (Amuses Gueules)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I find the photography in this amazing book to be most beautiful, erotic, creative and deliciously deviant. This sensual coffee table book was given to me as a gift from my boyfriend. As soon as I opened the first few pages, I realized why he chose "Fetish Girls". A part of me was in every photograph. I have since given this book to many, many friends--I know they, much like myself, will treasure these captured moments for a long, long time.

Kroll is perhaps the best fetish photographer laboring the fields of fantasy. "...Girls" is an exquisite work and worthy of gracing the most daring of coffee tables. The highly charged erotic images in this book will haunt you for weeks; visions of equally exotic and weird women in provocative states of dress and undress. Kroll demonstrates that fetishism is--for many men and women--both a way of seeing the world and a way of life. Highly recommended for the collector

Fetish Girls is Eric Kroll's blazing, 200-page tribute to all the photographers, models, and fetishists that have inspired him through his life: Nam Paik, Weegee, Man Ray, Elmer Batters, Betty Page, Bunny Yeager, Eric Stanton, John Willie, Irving and Paula Klaw, Bill Ward, and Marcel Duchamp, just to name a few.

A glorious tribute to his predecessors it may be, it is nonetheless a delicious exposé of the incredibly creative work that he himself has created over the years. Beautiful, succulent beauties are flaunted throughout, adorned in an endless variety of kinky clothing and erotic toys. And they are bound, they are knotted-up, they are bent over, spread-eagled, spanked, shaved, and suckled. They pose powerfully as dominators; innocuously as sexual furniture; and provocatively as they shove their crotches in our face.

Through it all, Eric Kroll's talent as a photographer and portraitist stands paramount. And we are left with what might be his finest publication to date and a book that is unquestionably a MUST HAVE for any serious collector.

Webster, ever polite, defines fetishism as a fixation of sexual interest on a part of the body, on an article of clothing, or some other device. The key word is fixation, obviously, not the object itself. Given the American male focus on breast size, one could argue that a very large percent of the population are unofficial fetishists. In truth, we all are. Few of us do not have favorite parts and fantasies that enhance and focus our sexual experience. And few fetishists are totally focussed on a particular fantasy to the exclusion of other forms of fulfillment.

Eric Kroll is a photographer whose body of work documents a large segment of the world of erotic fixation. His women come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They dress in leather, vinyl, lace and almost anything else you might care to imagine. They use paraphernalia such as whips, ropes, clips, clamps, and things I cannot mention here. Some are submissive, some are dominant and almost every variation in between is also represented.

Many of Kroll's images are beautifully posed and thought out, combining sexual lushness with a fine aesthetic sense. Other photographs are almost purely documentary. The original edition "Fetish Girls," with 200 pages of images is a vast summary of Kroll's work at the time (1994) and reveals much of his interests, his skills and a curious sense of humor. The miniature edition offers less, but the editing choices are good. At my age, though I find the smaller images require a bit of squinting. Printing is better in the larger edition as well. Unfortunately it is currently out of print, but it is still readily available from resellers and used book dealers.

Both the photographer and the fetishist will find "Fetish Girls" of interest. As a photographer, Kroll has had a great deal of influence in the field of fetish photography in the thirty years he has worked. It is hard to find a photographer in this genre that hasn't been influence by Kroll, and few have his breadth or technical skills. As a fetishist, Kroll shows himself has having a wide range of interest and a sympathetic approach to many of the varieties of sexual experience. He is by no means an extremist, though, and avoids the violence and rough sex of some of his competitors. Perfectly normal people will also find much of interest in this landmark volume of erotic imagery.

One of the few well known American fetish photographers has put out a book of splendor. The imagery is wonderful and the women are masterfully depicted in the fetishs and their beauty. Certainly a pleasure to veiw and to own.

I bought this some time ago expecting an erotic exploration of many varied ... fetish themes, particularly those pertaining to rubber and PVC apparel. Disappointingly, I found the collection of images boring and monotonous, with very few exceptions. Mind you, some may really like this book.
As art, it is only marginally succesful.
As an erotic art collection, it is inconsistent
As erotica it is flacid.

Inspect this book before purchasing.

Sorry. I did not find this book stimulating. I did not find it clever. I did not find it sexy. I was very disappointed.

Fetish Girls is Eric Kroll's blazing, 200-page tribute to all the photographers, models, and fetishists that have inspired him through his life: Nam Paik, Weegee, Man Ray, Elmer Batters, Betty Page, Bunny Yeager, Eric Stanton, John Willie, Irving and Paula Klaw, Bill Ward, and Marcel Duchamp, just to name a few.

A glorious tribute to his predecessors it may be, it is nonetheless a delicious exposé of the incredibly creative work that he himself has created over the years. Beautiful, succulent beauties are flaunted throughout, adorned in an endless variety of kinky clothing and erotic toys. And they are bound, they are knotted-up, they are bent over, spread-eagled, spanked, shaved, and suckled. They pose powerfully as dominators; innocuously as sexual furniture; and provocatively as they shove their crotches in our face.

Through it all, Eric Kroll's talent as a photographer and portraitist stands paramount. And we are left with what might be his finest publication to date and a book that is unquestionably a MUST HAVE for any serious collector.

I must apologize if you are a fan of Kroll's work but I expected more from this best seling book. The title sells the book , the work comes up short. To me its a waste of money and paper. So is Beauty parade and the Gwen series to some extent. Theres no imagination, no lighting nothing. Boring, ordinary...I do better with my candid home shots.

This book is so small you would feel ripped off paying a dollar for it in a charity store. Pictures are alright but you might need a magnifying glass to see them.