Nudes

The nude lies at the centre of Western art. From the beginning of photography, it has attracted photographers, many of whom have imitated the forms and postures portrayed by painters. There are few moments when a photographer has abandoned derivative styles and allowed the viewer to see the body in a completely new manner. This occured in America in the work of Edward Weston and in Britain in the work of Bill Brandt. It now occurs in the photographs of Lee Friedlander. For 15 years he has worked with a number of models and little of his work has been seen. The photographs are both highly intimate and cooly detached. His frequently surprising perspectives are balanced by the mundane backdrops of ordinary life, the real domestic interiors of the models. This is a book about Friedlander's work.