Showcasing vintage male photography, mostly nude. You must be 18 years of age or older to visit this blog! If you hold a copyright on any material shown on this blog, notify me, and it will be removed immediately.
It's a wonder neither sued, he copied them rather shamelessly. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but I would have been pissed off myself. Do something original! Lol.
I still remember when I first saw "The Classic Nude," the book from which all of these images came. I was a college freshman in the fall of 1977 on a mission to buy textbooks. A stack of these books were casually laid out for sale at the front counter near the register, very much in the open. Having grown up in a very repressed community I could barely believe my eyes. I eventually got my own copy, as well as his other two-part collection called "Man/Woman." I not only appreciated the work, but I found interesting the written introductions of these books where he discussed his objectives. Hester was gay and spent his final years in South Florida. He passed away in 2022 at the age of 98. Amazon purports to have some copies of The Classic Nude for sale, though they're not cheap. You could, however, get much better scans of these photos directly from the book.
When I was buying expensive college testbooks, I was so poor that I couldn't even contemplate buying a nice coffee table book, lol. I really amazes me that no one has put higher quality scans of Mr. Hester's work online.
There's a "casual air" about this shot.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, this is the only good photo in this series. I don't find anything artistic in this photographer!
ReplyDeleteHesters photographs are all so familiar to me.
ReplyDeleteThey resemble a lot of other photographers' work done at that time.
DeleteThat's what they said about Steven Meisel whom they called "Xerox" because all his early photos literally copies of Avedon or Irving Penn.
Delete"Xerox." Gotta remember that one , lol.
DeleteIt's a wonder neither sued, he copied them rather shamelessly. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but I would have been pissed off myself. Do something original! Lol.
DeleteI still remember when I first saw "The Classic Nude," the book from which all of these images came. I was a college freshman in the fall of 1977 on a mission to buy textbooks. A stack of these books were casually laid out for sale at the front counter near the register, very much in the open. Having grown up in a very repressed community I could barely believe my eyes. I eventually got my own copy, as well as his other two-part collection called "Man/Woman." I not only appreciated the work, but I found interesting the written introductions of these books where he discussed his objectives. Hester was gay and spent his final years in South Florida. He passed away in 2022 at the age of 98. Amazon purports to have some copies of The Classic Nude for sale, though they're not cheap. You could, however, get much better scans of these photos directly from the book.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was buying expensive college testbooks, I was so poor that I couldn't even contemplate buying a nice coffee table book, lol. I really amazes me that no one has put higher quality scans of Mr. Hester's work online.
Delete