Nudes (German Edition) (Hardcover)

~ Sylvie Blum (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Nudes was shot during photo sessions in Miami, Los Angeles, on the island of Majorca, and in Berlin. The vision of beautiful, naked, and self-confident women was at the heart of this project, realized by an exceptional photographer. Sylvie Blum staged pictures in the shade of Hollywood that-not least of all-reflect the worship of beauty and narcissism. Her Californian outdoor photographs consciously make use of traditional clichés of eternal beauty. The photographer equally draws her inspiration from the desert, from the Moloch of the big city, from the endlessness of the Pacific Ocean, and from the cool architecture of Palm Beach or Beverly Hills. The sober grace of a factory building, the Mediterranean atmosphere of a "finca," a Berlin courtyard full of graffiti-they all are her sources of inspiration. For over ten years Sylvie Blum, born in 1967, was the favorite model and muse of photographer Günter Blum, who died in 1997. After the death of her husband, she changed sides and has since been very successful as a freelance photographer with her own studio in Mannheim. By 2000 Edition Braus had already published Venus Selbst. Sylvie Blum also dedicates her time to fashion and portrait photography.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 140 pages
• Publisher: 6x6.com; Bilingual edition edition (April 1, 2004)
• Language: German
• ISBN-10: 3899040317
• ISBN-13: 978-3899040319
• Product Dimensions: 14.1 x 9.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,363,845 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very nice, if overpriced, May 9, 2006

By	Daniel Raphael - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a large-format, hardbound, coffeetable book. All the photographs are in black and white, and the compositions are very well thought out. The initial text (a few pages) is in German, followed by the same in English; the titles to the photographs are all in English. Be aware that there is only one photograph each time you open the book; the facing page shows only the title.

This is the first time I have seen this photographer's work, and was very favorably impressed. Buy this book used or on sale--it will be a high-quality addition to your collection of female nudes.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Statuesque, July 13, 2009

By	wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Blum takes almost a sculptural approach to her subjects. Each of her models appears as a structure: strong and symmetric, or curved and cantilevered, or elegantly arched. The model as sculpture comes through again in the many faces hidden by poses, or simply cropped. With their faces missing, those models seem somehow anonymous and even unreal, just a figure rather than a person with friends, family, wants, and hopes. The models as a group get their nod in the closing indicia, but rarely see their names attached to their images.

So, these B&W images present the simple curves and lines of the human animal. In particular, the female human, twenty-something, long and lean. The images are easy to enjoy, but more as a vehicle for Blum's vision than as a person to be documented. Conventional poses, for example the en pointe toes tightening muscles through the model's legs, also move her image away from her unique self. I see the value in idealization and abstraction of these very handsome figures, but that comes at a cost in the models' warmth and humanity.

-- wiredweird

5.0 out of 5 stars Sylvie Blum's Breakthrough Body of Work, December 15, 2008

By	Jack Gilbert "Editor of Michelle7.com" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a book of female nudes large in size as well as accomplishment. It might be Sylvie Blum's break through body of work. Dimension-wise it is a superbly satisfying 15x10" and features 140 pages of black & white prints. Ms. Blum herself, is a former model who now works as a photographer. She is also the widow of the greatly admired photographer, Günter Blum. Their time spent together was undoubtedly of artistic benefit to Sylvie, for the magnificent compositional skills that made Günter's work so memorable is strikingly evident in Sylvie's work too. Nonetheless, it's her background as a model along with the strength and fire of her own personality that have together been forged here into a fabulous new vision of the female form. And the manner with which she sees her subject matter here is framed with such creative abandon, such an overpowering sense of style and composition, it now seems she was truly born to take pictures. That she is such a beautiful woman may have prolonged this, she is such a natural in front of the camera, but it was perhaps inevitable that she would assume her place behind the lens - and this work solidifies the opinion that she belongs there.

The content for NUDES was shot on location in various locations in Berlin, Miami, Los Angeles, and the island of Majorca. Sylvie's vision of strong, beautiful women is the central tenet of this work, and is perhaps a reflection of her own personality as well as her personal quest to stand-out in a medium dominated by men in general and her late husband in particular. Be that as it may, Sylvie claims to have no need to escape from the shadows of anyone, including her beloved Günter, and this collection of work is glaring testimony to her amazing maturation as an artist with her own unique and powerful vision. Her alchemy of flesh and form, desert and ocean, the natural world and human architecture all combine to shape what is both a delicious perspective of the female body as well as the self-actualization of a sensational talent.