Nerve: The New Nude [Hardcover]

Genevieve Field (Author, Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

Hailed as "the Web's most intelligent forum for erotica," Nerve magazine has redefined and elevated our dialog about sex. With well over 750,000 unique visitors per month, and dedicated web sites in Germany, France, and Spain, in addition to its print publishing, Nerve's brand of smart sex is growing at a feverish pace. In this bold collection, Genevieve Field, cofounder of Nerve, delivers a state of the union on nude photography with a selection of work from today's hottest photographers. No longer restricted to the beautiful but often impersonal, traditional posed nude, these 150 contemporary images burst with color, life, and yes... sex. Nerve: The New Nude captures the cutting edge of nude photography and backs it with intelligent and powerful discourse on a contentious subject.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Capturing the naked body on film has been a convention of photography practically since its inception as a medium. Throughout history (and the present is no exception) it has been mostly the female form viewed through the lens of a camera, but this image changes over time. The bodies differ through the decades, the ideal fluctuating with fashion, but more arresting are the differences in how the body is imagined. Genevieve Field, editor of Nerve: The New Nude, explains: "The old masters of photography largely avoided the sexuality of their subjects by applying the rules of still-life photography to their nudes ... one could surmise that they had little desire to get under their subjects' skin." In radical opposition, this collection of contemporary nude photography is almost all about exploring individual sexuality. It makes perfect sense that the book is derived from the erotica Web site Nerve.com; the popularity of the Internet is firmly rooted in sex and imagination, with pornography proliferating and online chat the public forum for fantasy.

The 145 color and black-and-white photographs here are combinations of advertising, art, and pornography: naked bodies splayed on the cracked mud of the desert, pictures that pay homage to Helmut Newton, political statements, and an orgy in Venice. Some images are throwbacks to the past, with printing processes that recall the sepia tones of early photography, while others use special effects from the world of video. If you're at all interested in the contemporary human body and sexuality, you'll be riveted by this collection of images. --J.P. Cohen

From Publishers Weekly

The Web site Nerve.com pitches itself as "literate smut," and this serious-looking book seems to be a logical step in its dot-diversification. In fact, there is nothing new about "The New Nude," a languid flirt with art that has all the impact of a decaf coffee-table book. Seemingly turning down every opportunity to make a statement or take risks without fear of offending advertisers, the book fails to be conventionally sexy in the cheesecake sense, or to provoke the reader to think past its mostly familiar pix with occasional oddball selections. A-talent photographers check in with B-level work: Ralph Gibson, Nan Goldin, Richard Kern, Andres Serrano, Tony Ward are among the 44 photographers who contribute more than 140 shots. And despite a seemingly foolproof assumption thatDliterate or notDsex sells, image after image simply fails to interest. While Nerve says it tries to thoughtfully appeal to both genders and various inclinations, the book features a strikingly traditional imbalance of female nudes. Editor Field is editorial director and copublisher of the site, and former editorial director of MTV books (site founder Rufus Griscom also came from publishing). She explains the gender disparity by noting that "[t]he male form... has yet to captivate both artists and viewer with the same intensity as the female body." Sex sells, but some sexes apparently sell more than others. (Nov.) Forecast: The Nerve brand will be enough to lift this book off 20- and 30-something-directed gift tables, but this is hardly the cultural intervention it claims to be. After a moderate showing for the holidays, it will sell slowly and steadily to denizens of the site, and to the curious who will find it a safe entr e (or alternative) to Internet porn.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First edition. edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081182957X
• ISBN-13: 978-0811829571
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #951,309 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb photography, December 17, 2000

By 

skag "skag" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nerve: The New Nude (Hardcover)

I perused this book in Barnes and Nobles, and I have to say that "The New Nude" was one of the most provocative photography books I've seen. I'm not a photography aficionado, let alone an erotica-photography aficionado, but I have to say, some of these pictures, as jarringly candid about sex as they were, were all rendered beautifully.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great collection of Nudes, October 21, 2004

By 

Photopro "Mike" (purcellville, va United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nerve: The New Nude (Hardcover)

This is a great book. Why? A few reasons. First off, it is wonderfully published. A good hardback with great quality photograph reproductions. Second, The photographers. This book packs in nudes from fairly famous photographers that get passed by a lot. Each photographer gets roughly three pages of space to have a few photographs, and most of them are great. I am especially moved by the increadible, previously unpublished, waist up portraits of Peter Gorman (naked rooms, naked in apartment 7). Before the photographs are shown, you get a brief biography of the photographer and how he/she goes about their creative process. Its quite interesting to see what motivates some of these guys. I highly suggest this book to any collector of nude/erotic photography. You will be pleased.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars candid and refreshing, September 30, 2003

By 

Patrick R Brown (Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nerve: The New Nude (Hardcover)

There is a great edge to the photos in this book and a real sense that NERVE has it's finger on the pulse of what's "hot".