Friends, lovers, confidantes, collaborators - the multi-facteted relationship between husband and wife takes on another dimension when the couple are also artist and muse. In this volume, Arthur Ollman explores the imagery and photographic history of nine 20th-century photographers who used their wives as models over a period of years, in images ranging from stark nudes on the sand to aproned mothers in the kitchen. The featured photographers and their wives include Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe, Harry Callahan and Eleanor Callahan and Nicholas Nixon and Bebe Nixon. The text offers a viewpoint on photography and marriage in an introductory overview and essays on each couple.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Photographer and author Arthur Ollman explores nine couples whose collaborations as photographer and wife have resulted in a series of pictures that speak volumes about marriage itself, the distinction between self and other, the observer and the observed. In another writer's hands the subject could have become merely a gimmick, an excuse for a book, but in Ollman's it has extraordinary depth. He is an engaging writer and a thoroughgoing scholar who studied the couples he portrays, and he writes with understanding, balance, and respect about mental illness, suicide, loss of love, loss of life, and the simple vagaries of daily, entwined responsibilities.
The photographers are Baron Adolph de Meyer, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston, Harry Callahan, Emmet Gowin, Lee Friedlander, Masahisa Fukase, Seiichi Furuya, and Nicholas Nixon--three of whom still photograph the wives whose long-lost, limber years are included here. In a long introductory essay, Ollman touches on a dozen important themes: the definition of muse, the ambitions of the subject, the role of the photographer in "postmortem recording," the vulnerability of both artist and subject, the collaborative role of the wife, the difference in depictions of wives as opposed to mistresses (he scathingly deconstructs Andrew Wyeth's secret, near-predatory relationship with the silent, compliant Helga), and the mutuality that these nine relationships exude. "Only the most secure or brazen persist in the long-term portrayal of their spouse," he concludes. In the chapters that follow, Ollman writes brief histories of the photographers and marriages represented by carefully chosen series of pictures. This is a beautifully nuanced book on every level: visual, verbal, and imaginative. --Peggy Moorman
From Library Journal
As director of the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, Ollman has organized an upcoming exhibition centered on male photographers' images of their wives. The nine couples presented in this accompanying catalog had long-term, intimate relationships wherein the wife was both collaborator and muse. The subjects span the 20th century and include such well-known figures as Adolph de Meyer, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston, and Harry Callahan, as well as less familiar artists. Utilizing excerpts from interviews and letters, Ollman's introductory overview and lively essays that precede each artist's portfolio reveal a remarkable linkage among the photographers and highlight the complex effects of love and marriage on art. About 150 duotone and five color plates, beautifully displayed, capture a vulnerability, trust, and willingness to be photographed shared by the wives. In the majority of the photographs, the wife appears alone, often unabashedly nude, and a sublime tenderness becomes apparent. Recommended for public and academic collections.
-Joan Levin, MLS, Chicago
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-Joan Levin, MLS, Chicago
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting perspective. Photos of wives of photographers,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Model Wife (Hardcover)
I found this very insightful as far as giving a variety of examples of portraite shots, nudes and daily life. Also very interesting in that the book shows about (can't remember that exact count) a half a dozen notable photographer's wives photographed through an extended period of time. As we all know, people and things we see on a daily basis, tend to be taken for granted. It's pretty easy to overlook the beauty of our own backyard. So, to actually see photographers including their wives as models (hence the title "The Model Wife" ;) was rather refreshing. There's a fair amount of nude shots in the book. Some might be considered a bit "wild" (Not by me, mind you. But if you feel the line between photographic art and pornography is very thin, this book is not for you). Likewise(all things in proper place) this is NOT a book to be left around at a day care center, either. I feel this is a good book for those seriously interested in photography, photographers (and how they see what we would hope be their favorite subject... their own wife), portraites and nudes. The paper and print quality of this book is excellent. Size and presentation of the book are also pleasing. If, after what I've said, you are unsure about this book, go anywhere you think you could get your hand on a copy of this book, review it yourself, and then decide.
28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A unique premise for a photo art book: wife as model.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Model Wife (Hardcover)
Arthur Ollman has achieved an intense and unique premise: To view the range of photographs and relationships between nine photographers and their wives as models. He has selected masteful artists, outstanding images, then with articulate text proceeds to bring these couples off the page. Ollman's study of what reflected artist and wife before the cameras as collaborators, is equally weighted by his search within these marriages, be they loving and sustaining or dark and disturbing. The humanity of these nine couples supports the fine art of portraiture. This is a book for the serious art book collector, devotees of fine art photography, and any mature person who ever pondered the nuance of marriage. A beautiful and graceful achievement. The duo-toned photographs are exquisite.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book, Great Exhibit,
This review is from: The Model Wife (Hardcover)
I recently attended the accompanying exhibit to this book at the Cleveland Museum of Art and I was truly touched. It was a powerfully psychological set of pictures, very deep; some clearly sexual in nature, others frankly disturbing (one photographer took photos of his wife's body AFTER she committed suicide by jumping out of a ninth floor window). The overall feel of the book as well as for the exhibit was one of mutual revelation over time between wife and husband and needless to say, some of the photos are quite intimate yet genuine. There is no need to critique individual photos or photographers, they are all masters producing masterworks. Get the book, and if the exhibit comes to your city, go. Don't forget to take your wife.
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