1000 Nudes : Uwe Scheid Collection

760 Pages·1994·40.57 MB·english

by  Uwe Scheid

1000 Nudes

iooo Nudes
Uwe
Scheid Collection
fürSonja
Thisbookwasprintedon100%chlorine-
fre«bleachedpaperinaccordancewith
theTCFStandard.
C1994BenediktTaschenVerlagGmbH,
Hohenzollernring53,D-50672Köln
C1994VCBild Kunst.Bonn,for
theIllustration*ofManRayand
LaszlöMoholy Nagy
Design:MarkThomson
Layout:JudithJordan,tarcetdata
Coverdesign:MarkThomsonand
AngelikaTaschen
EnghshTranslation:MargieMounier
Copyeditor Oeborahffoulkes
Frenchtranslation JeanBertrand
PrintedinItaly
ISBN3 8328-8935-0 (Softcover)
ISBN3-8228-8089-2 (Leatherbound)
iooo Nudes
Uwe
Scheid
Collection
Text by Michael Koetzle
Benedikt Taschen
Contents
Inhalt
Sommaire
e Introduction
ig Einleitung
31 Introduction
43 Daguerreotypes: thefirst photographsofnudes
Die Daguerreotypie: Dieersten Lichtbilderdes nackten Menschen
Lesdaguerreotypes: les premiers nus photographiques
99 Academyfigures: earlypicturesofnudes
Akademien: Die FrühzeitderAktdarstellung
Lesacademies: lesdebutsdu nu
155 Saucyscenes
Pikantesund Galantes
Lesscenesgrivoises
227 Obscene photography
Dieobszöne Fotografie
La Photographiepornographique
309 Erotic postcards
ErotischeGrüße
Lescartes postaleserotiques
427 Peepshows: thethree-dimensional nude
Peepshow: Derdrei-dimensionaleAkt
Lepeep-show: le nuentroisdimensions
465 Theethnological nude
DerethnographischeAkt
Le nu ethnologique
487 Pictorialism: painterlynudes
Pictorialismus: DermalerischeAkt
Le pictorialisme: le nu artistique
525 Arcadianworks: Baronvon Gloeden and Co.
Arkadien: Baronvon Gloeden und Co.
L'Arcadiedu baronvon Gloeden
559 The nudein nature: the nudist movementin Germany
Nackt in derNatur: FKK-Bewegung in Deutschland
Natureetnudite: le mouvementnaturisteenAllemagne
605 The longingforsun, lightand nature: open-airnudes
Sehnsuchtnach Sonne, Lichtund Natur: Freilichtakte
Soifdesoleil, de lumiereetde nature: le nu en plein air
633 Newtrends in nudephotography
NeueWege inderAktfotografie
Lesnouvellestendancesde la photodenu
685 Glamourshotsand pin-upgirls
Glamourund Pin-up
Le portraitglamouret la photode pin up
752 Biography Biographie
|
754 Index
415
Anonymous
1939
iooo Nudes
Commentaryontheartisticandsocial evolutionofPhotographie
representationsofthehuman bodyfrom 183gto 1g3g
Thediscoveryofphotographyduringthefirstthird ofthe nine-
teenthCenturywasthe responseofthetechnological eratothe
tasteforimagesofa middleclassofconsiderableeconomicmeans.
Indeed, manual graphictechniquessuch as drawing, etching and
lithographymust haveseemedoutmodedtopeople living in an age
whensteam machineenergywas being pressed intotheServiceof
capitalist produetion, when mechanical loomsweregraduallyreplac-
ingthe labourforce, andwhen railroadswereonthevergeofbring
distantregionswithin reachofoneanother, thusendowing human-
itywith newmobility.Aboveall, such manual andtherefore largely
subjeetiveformsofrepresentation hardlycorrespondedwiththeob-
jeetivevisionoftheworld andtheenvironmenttowhichthe rational
positivismofthetimesaspired.
Strictlyspeaking, the basic principlesofphotographyhad been
knownforsometime.Theyonlyhadtobecombined andthefinal
missing linksupplied.Theworkingsofthecameraobscura, for
example, had been knownsinceancienttimesand had alsoserved as
anaidtoartists interested in achieving moretrue-to-life perspective
intheirworksincethe Renaissance. Similarly,thesensitivityto light
ofsilversaltswas a knownfact by, atthe latest,Johann Heinrich
Schulze's(i727)time. Whatremained lacking up untiltheend ofthe
eighteenth Centurywasasociallyrooted interestinobtaining pic-
tures bymechanical meansand awayofmaking permanentthe
cameraobscura "sun pictures".
Variousseparatedevelopmentstook placeduringthefirsthalfof
the i9th Century: in 1826,the Frenchman Nicephore Niepcehad
sueeeeded intaking a photographoftheviewfrom hisworkroom
windowbyusing bitumencoatingsonacopperplate; since 1834,
England's Henry FoxTalbot had beensuccessfullyexperimenting
withsensitized papernegatives; and by 1837, LouisJacques Mande
Daguerrehad sueeeeding in producingthetypeofphotographwhich
was named afterhim,thedaguerreotype. All such milestones not-
withstanding,theofficial datefortheStartofphotographyiscon-
6|7
sideredtobe i839: August i9thto beexact. Onthatday, duringthe
heightofsummer, theAcademyofScienceandtheAcademyofFine
Arts metjointlyin Paristodebateone lasttimetheprocess invented
by Daguerreand -afterthe FrenchState purchasedthe inventor's
patentatthe priceofa lifeannuity- madetheworld agiftofthat
process.
The international reactiontothe publication ofthetechniquewasas
immediateas itwastremendous, proofthatWestern industrial So-
cietyhad beenwaitingforjustsuchatechnical meansofproducing
pictures. Peoplewereenchantedwiththewaythe process brought
outeverydetail ofa pictureequally, andwith "the method'sspeed"
(Arago). Morethan afewcriticsweretoexpressdisappointment
with respecttothe lackofcolour. Ontheotherhand, whatfasci-
nated andfinallyconvinced most peoplewasthe mechanical, almost
automatic natureoftheprocess. InthewordsoftheartcriticJules
Janin(i839): thistime itisno longer"man'sunstablegaze, distin-
guishing shadowand lightfrom adistance, no longerhisshakyhand
thatcapturesonshort-lived paperthecapriciousformofthe
world...". Herethe "miracle" (Janin)takes place moreorlesson its
own.
Therewastheoccasional naivegaspoverthefirst "airpictures", but
whatisfarmoresurprising, in retrospect, isthefarsightednessand
imagination characterizing discussionsontheyoung medium atthe
time. One isamazed byearlyremarksalreadytaking intoconside-
rationthemedium's potential rängeofapplications. JulesJanin, for
example, foresawthe birth ofarchitectural and landscape photogra-
phy, although hedid not usetheseterms. Healsospokeofthe possi-
bilityofartreproductions, and referredto portraiture. Dominique
Arago, physicist, politician andoneofthe medium's mostoutspoken
advocatesatthetime, sawthe photograph asatool ofarchaeology,
astronomyand photometry. Schorn/Kollof, correspondentstothe
"MorgenblattfürgebildeteStände" (Morning Paperforthe Learn-
ed), gaveconsiderationtothe possibilityofdoing instantaneous
shots. And no lessthanthewidelytravelledAlexandervon Hum-
boldt reflected ontheusefulnessofacamera onjourneys.
NotaSingleallusiontonudes isto befound.Theconceptoflinking
photographywith erotic imageryremained unexpressed, which
comesas nosurprise inviewofthe repressivesexualcodeofethics