Nude Portraits
Nudity is a form of dress
Any artist, who portrays the naked human body, knows that ethics, prejudice and stereotype have to be questioned and resolved. The question ‘why’ becomes a much bigger issue than is the case with clothed people. But then, if we do consider these issues, do we not make too much of what is, after all, our natural state? And there is always this one question: Is it naked or is it nude?
The art critic John Berger writes in his seminal book ‘Ways of Seeing’: “To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognised for oneself. A naked body has to be seen as an object in order to become a nude.” Further, “To be naked is to be without disguise” and “The nude is condemned to never being naked. Nudity is a form of dress”.
Philip Carr-Gomm offers further, detailed insight in his excellent book ‘A Brief History of Nakedness’.
A fleeting moment
My nudes express a fleeting moment without questioning and without judgement. Looks and age are unimportant. The naked (or is it nude?) body is incidental. I want to capture the essence of a person. My photographs are not about the naked body but about people who, as if by accident or oversight, happen to be unclothed.
Almost all my nude photo sessions are for private clients. The resulting photographs are, of course, not for publication. The photographs in this portfolio were largely made with the help of models. This is a shame because some of my favourites are of clients.
As is the case with my portrait photography, nudes now feature less prominently in my work and I no longer create nude portraits in the studio. Any nude portrait photography that I agree to undertake is now made in my own garden. It is beautifully secluded and therefore ideally suited to this type of work.
Signed Limited Edition Prints
Prints of selected photographs in this portfolio are available to buy in a limited edition of five. The prints are produced in-house by myself. They are numbered and hand-signed and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. For this edition I have chosen AIJP Kozo Thick White paper from the Japanese paper mill Awagami.
To buy prints, click on an image to enlarge it. On a desktop or laptop hover the pointer over the image to display the description and the buy this limited edition print link. On mobile devices, press the red dot on grey background in the bottom right corner of your screen.
Signed limited editions from the 'Nude Portraits' series are available exclusively through Saatchi Art.
