From Book News, Inc.
The latest collection by the controversial photographer Sturges charged and cleared of pornography charges by the US government. Black-and-white images capture the form of adolescent bodies and the closeness of mothers and daughters, primarily at nude beaches in France and California. An introduction and afterward comment on the process of photographing young people and the place of Sturges' work in modern photography. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Review
"Of course there's the curiosity. What do I look like? Sometimes disappointment, sometimes pleasure. But it's not just about me: Jock makes the whole world look remarkable--like heaven. He lets me see my own world in a new way."--the voice of one of Sturges's subjects, from Elizabeth Beverly's introduction

"[Sturges's] gelatin silver prints luxuriate in textures of sand, flesh, cloth, tide pools and gentle waves. . . . superbly printed, expressive in their modulations of light and joyful tonalities . . . the high mark of Sturges's work is its naturalness, its gentle attentions to the pleasure that can be found in life."--The Boston Globe

" . . . Sturges's people are grave, well-formed, and poetic. Best to think of his world as an inviting fiction: one phtographer's Eden, where a little knowledge doesn't get you expelled from the garden."--People magazine


Book Description
In Radiant Identities, photographer Jock Sturges explores issues of youth and the liberation of body and spirit. These unforgettable images are made from his own circle of acquaintances and family; the settings are their homes and stretches of naturist beaches in France and Northern California. In superb reproductions, Sturges evokes the classical spirit of Old Master paintings and late-nineteenth-century photographic tableaux, while probing concepts of emergent sexuality and psychological intimacy.

Aperture's 1991 publication of Sturges's first book, The Last Day of Summer, came shortly after the FBI's much-publicized raid on his home in California, the confiscation of thousands of his images--deemed "pornographic"--and the subsequent rejection of the case by a federal grand jury. Now in its fifth printing, The Last Day of Summer has outlived and transcended that ordeal, drawing both critical and popular acclaim throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, and bringnig Sturges well-deserved artistic recognition.

Radiant Identities is the second volume in Sturges's ongoing work. Physically and psychically revealing, these deeply felt images are glorioiusly natural and wonderfully compelling.

Elizabeth Beverly's introductory essay, drawn in part from conversations with Sturges's subjects, adds a new dimension to the photogarphs. These personal reflections shed light on the unique collaborative process by which Sturges's remarkable photographs are made.

In the book's afterward, noted photography critic A.D. Coleman places Sturges in the context of current debates surrounding censorship in the arts, and discusses the themes of innocence and sexuality in the photographs.


About the Author
Jock Sturges received a B.A. in Perceptual Psychology and Photography from Marlboro College in Vermont and an M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute. He has exhibited widely in the United States as well as in France and Japan. His photographs are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.

Elizabeth Beverly's ethnographic fieldwork focuses on women's culture among the Mandinko of rural Senegal. Her articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in Ethos, Soundings, and Commonweal. Her most recent play, Kindred Minds, was performed in 1993 in Portland, Oregon.

A. D. Coleman is the author of The Grotesque in Photography, Light Readings, and two forthcoming collections of essays: Depth of Field and Critical Focus. Presently, he is the photography critic for the New York Observer; his columns appear regularly in Photo Metro, Juliet Art Magazine (Italy), and European Photography (Germany).

ANNOTATION

With Radiant Identities, the highly acclaimed creator of The Last Day Of Summer further explores the sensual and psycholgical territories of youth and family. Gorgeously printed black-and-white pictures evoke the classic spirit of Old Master paintings and late 19th-century photographic tableaux while probing modern concepts of sexual and psychological intimacy. 70 photos.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In Radiant Identities, photographer Jock Sturges explores issues of youth and the liberation of body and spirit. These unforgettable images are made from his own circle of acquaintances and family; the settings are their homes and stretches of naturist beaches in France and Northern California. In superb reproductions, Sturges evokes the classical spirit of Old Master paintings and late-nineteenth-century photographic tableaux, while probing concepts of emergent sexuality and psychological intimacy. Radiant Identities is the second volume in Sturges's ongoing work. Physically and psychically revealing, these deeply felt images are gloriously natural and wonderfully compelling. Elizabeth Beverly's introductory essay, drawn in part from conversations with Sturges's subjects, adds a new dimension to the photographs. These personal reflections shed light on the unique collaborative process by which Sturges's remarkable photographs are made. In the book's afterword, noted photography critic A.D. Coleman places Sturges in the context of current debates surrounding censorship in the arts, and discusses the themes of innocence and sexuality in the photographs.

FROM THE CRITICS

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