Past Masters of the Nude is the latest release from Wolfbait. The book is a little bit different from our other publications. It is an illustrated bibliography of nude photography books published in England from 1896 to 1960.
It documents every hardback book of nude photographs published in England during the first half of the 20th century from such photographers as Walter Bird, John Everard, Andre de Dienes, George Harrison Marks, Horace Roye, Jean Straker, Bertram Park and Yvonne Gregory. Full bibliographical details are given for each title, together with a description of its imagery and contents — a must-have resource for bibliophiles and nude photography collectors.
Throughout the period covered, the publication of nude photographs was a hazardous business. Public prudery and the law of obscenity made life difficult for both photographers and publishers.
In a scholarly introduction and postscript, together with the bibliographical entries themselves, author Jay W. King provides a fascinating account of the profound changes in cultural and legal attitudes towards nudity and sexuality which occurred in England in the first 60 years of the 20th century.
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Re: Past Masters of the Nude
I received this book last week and found it to be a wealth of information for a book and photograph collector of nude studies like myself. My particular interest are photographs from the inter-war era not only by English photographers but also French, German, and American. It is fun to see that I have a number of volumes listed in the book.
Also the book has introduced to me a number of photographers from the era that I did not know of and that I will certainly now look for.
Thanks for the reference.