Customer Reviews

LoveSong: The Erotic Photographs of Arnold Skolnick

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A current resident of Massachusetts, Arnold Skolnick first gained notoriety as the graphic designer who created the infamous dove & guitar poster for the 1969 Woodstock rock festival. During this same period, in the early 1970's he crafted an epic body of work showcasing the sexual union of man and woman. Although a few of these photos were exhibited at the Neikrug Gallery in 1973, this work was largely set aside by Skolnick, mostly out of fear (people were still being prosecuted for distributing sexual materials).

But now, in teaming up with Quantuck Lane Press, Skolnick has published this almost forgotten work in a stupendous satin bound book designed for collectors and limited to only 3,000 copies. It features 85 tritone photographs that are breathtakingly beautiful. The human sexual dynamic is featured here in all its tender, beautiful glory. There is a realistic quality to this work that makes it all the more striking. Each duo are entwined in each others form, engaged in what seems to be real, genuine lovemaking. These subjects are not fitness buffs or even professional-looking models, but appear to be real-life lovers. And this makes it all the more exciting.

Skolnick's imagery will almost certainly remind one of sculptor, Rodin's work (as noted by a critic of the Neikrug exhibit) more than anything one would see in a stag film. This book is a magnificent tribute to both its subject matter as well as the artist himself. This is one production that all collectors of fine art photography will want.

Any one book is two objects at minimum, maybe more. This first presents itself as a luxurious object, plainly hard-bound and slip-cased in elegant, silky cloth coverings. Dense printing adds drama to each B&W picture, on bright and glarefree paper. The paper's density prevents any picture from being impaired by another visually bleeding through from the back. Design serves the imagery well - a factor you might not appreciate until you've seen a book where layout actually interferes with the content. Just this once, I might have recommended the European affectation of putting the copyright notices at the back. Before you even open it, the physical presence of this book prepares you for its sensual content.

The second aspect, the content, keeps the promise made by the format. I don't know the exact number of photos - probably seventy or eighty - but that hardly matters. Each one is a jewel. Each features one couple, intimately engaged. This is love-making, in all of the common ways for a man and woman to try to become one being. These pictures languished since the 1970s (they were too hot even for Playboy back then), but the imagery carries almost nothing of that time - just its hair styles. Only now did Skolnick feel that an audience could accept this work. Because of that inherent time-travel, the timelessness of figure and conjunction truly stand out.

I recommend this to any couple who values their coupling, and who wants art that celebrates their own experience. This documents the deep beauty of the human animal, as Nature invites these handsome people into the ongoing act of Creation.

-- wiredweird

. . . curiously chaste by today's standards. The photographs are reproduced in somewhat bland black and white.

I first saw three of these images in an early-seventies book called The Nude in Photography. They were in coulour, or at least had been coloured. Hence there was some disappointment in perusing the contents of this collection.

Also, while there are undeniably many intimate-looking and even acrobatic images here, it appears that anything approaching actual intercourse is simulated. That would have been standard for the time. In his introduction Skolnick mentions that he was concerned about possible legal ramifications in showing his work.

There are some remarkably lovely things to be seen here. The price is high, but not unreasonable for quality of the book's production. Still, if it's erotic stimulation you're looking for you'll find better bang for the buck elsewhere.