Self-Exposure

The nude self-portrait is perhaps the most intimate form of photography. It delves deep into taboo territory and strips away the traditional barriers between artist and viewer. Witnessing such a private act, we may feel the queasy embarrassment of a voyeur, but we are always compelled to look further. The images cut to the core of issues of identity, sexuality, and ego– and as they reveal an essential truth about their creators they also tell us something about ourselves. ...
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The nude self-portrait is perhaps the most intimate form of photography. It delves deep into taboo territory and strips away the traditional barriers between artist and viewer. Witnessing such a private act, we may feel the queasy embarrassment of a voyeur, but we are always compelled to look further. The images cut to the core of issues of identity, sexuality, and ego– and as they reveal an essential truth about their creators they also tell us something about ourselves. Self-Exposure features more than 100 works from both established masters and up-and-coming photographers–many never before published. This groundbreaking collection traces the development of the male self-portrait from its earliest beginnings with such greats as Hippolyte Bayard, Herbert Tobias, and André Kertész, to the contemporary efforts of such artists as John Dugdale, Anthony Goicolea, and Yasumasa Morimura. Each artist takes a uniquely individual approach ranging from the shockingly perverse and aggressively erotic to the elusively self-conscious and sublimely beautiful. Complete with brief biographies of each artist, Self-Exposure is a powerful survey of this most seductive subject.