Love & Desire: Photoworks Book

"All photographs are, at some level, about love, and all photographs are triggered, to varying degrees, by desire" writes William A. Ewing in the introduction to Love & Desire, the exquisite follow-up to his hugely successful The Body . Ewing draws his collection from a large range of genres--while the book does have its fair share of erotic images, attention also extends to wider renditions of love--such as parental affection and friendship (in the chapter "Bonds") and romantic fixation("Icons" and "Reveries"). From the saucy daguerreotypes of the 19th century to the sassy sex-as- fashion prints of the 1980s and 90s, there's something in Love & Desire's 331 photographs (mostly in stylish black-and white) to tickle everyone's fancy. The representation of photographers is similarly varied--the realism of Cartier Bresson and the pale nudes of Man Ray are here, as is the overt wit of Robert Mapplethorpe and Mario Testino, snapper of the stars. Enticingly prefaced with an informative essay by Ewing, tracing the history of nude photography from its early anxious beginnings in the 19th century to its confident flourish at the end of the 20th, this is a beautiful and portable hommage to the delights of all aspects of love and desire. Heavenly bodies indeed. --Catherine TaylorRead More