Customer Reviews

Peek Photographs from the Kinsey Institute

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I grew up in Indiana in the '50's and heard rumors about the Kinsey Institute as well as the "reports". When I attended IU in the late '50's early '60's, there was a general buzz about what went on at the Kinsey Institute as well as their photographic files. The cover is a little "Newtonian" (Helmut Newton), but the rest of the material is disappointing. The introductions/prefaces cite lofty reasons etc., but given the immense quantity of material the somewhat dated and grainy pictures are just disappointing. There is an example of a woman in bondage leathers and there are the old Victorian postcards etc. Then out of nowhere is this rather coy picture of Bettie Page (bondage queen/pinup queen of the '50's who has been rediscovered). Given all of the pictures of her available then and now, this one is rather tame and naive, almost clashing with the rest of the material. Overall, I'd say this is a disappointing book--given the years of build up and the scope of material. A couple of other reviews have nicely indicated the same disappointment.

A nicely produced, supremely quirky selection of photographs covering erotic (and pornographic) representation in photography from the mid-19th century through the 1970s. The subject matter presented here depicts just about every sort of sexual combination you could imagine (and even some you can't); while in lesser hands this could've wound up a vacuous peep show, the editors have managed to treat their subject matter with intelligence and, more importantly, a healthy sense of humor. Carol Squiers' essay is brilliant, and the history of the Kinsey Institute is illuminating. The reproduction quality of the photographs is first-rate as well. Definitely a worthy addition to your coffee table, although one you might want to hide when Aunt Sylvia comes over - assuming, of course, that she's not one of the anonymous models of yesteryear cavorting amongst the pages ...

This book is an interesting selection of pictures from The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University Bloomington. The difficult task for the editors was enormous due to the 75,000+ pictures in the Institute collection.