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| Jock Sturges | 
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| Creator: Jock Sturges
Publisher: Scalo Publishers
Category: Book
Buy Used: $104.99
Used (7) Collectible (1) from $104.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  45 reviews
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 11.5 x 10.7 x 0.7
ISBN: 3908247357
Dewey Decimal Number: 770
EAN: 9783908247357
ASIN: 3908247357
Publication Date: October 15, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
This is the first comprehensive publication on American photographer Jock Sturges (b.1947) compiled by the artist himself. It is nothing less than an ode to beauty. For more than 20 years, he has been taking photographs of girls growing up, both in his native California and at a nudist resort on the Atlantic coast of France. Nudity in Sturges' work has never been a cheap or tawdry gimmick, rather it is shown as human being's natural state. His photographs are an expression of the trust he has established over the years with the girls and their families. Calmly and almost casually, Sturges observes the aging process of his models. His striking long-term studies chart barely perceptible changes in their appearance, the slow maturing of the female body. Sturges preserves transient states that will never return; graceful forms that time will eventually extinguish. A sweet melancholia pervades Sturges' images as he knows that beauty is not an everlasting state-but a brief moment in time whose essence we should cherish.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 40 more reviews...
People cared for beautifully. February 15, 2004
29 out of 31 found this review helpful
Gerry Badger, in a listing of 250 key photographers, refers to Jock Sturges as the leading photographer of the "natural" nude (p. 170, Collecting Photography, Mitchell Beazley). This is fine, as far as it goes, but is too limited an introduction to Mr. Sturges's work. Mr. Sturges's photography is not limited to nudes. Neither can his subject matter be properly described as the nude or the natural nude. Rather, Mr. Sturges cares deeply about people. He is interested in people - in the whole of what a person is - and his work reflects this valuing. Simply turn to page 114 of the first Scalo book - the book I'm reviewing here - or page 31 or 87 or 126 - this is a wonderfully rich book - to find the definition of a great portrait.
I find that I can go back to Mr. Sturges's books again and again with pleasure and for profit. I look at people differently since meeting the books - with greater pleasure and discernment. Having Mr. Sturges's work in my home makes my house feel more like home. Enough said.
Mr. Sturges's monographs include Jock Sturges (Scalo), Jock Sturges: New Work 1996 - 2000 (Scalo), The Last Day of Summer (Aperture), Radiant Identities (Aperture), Notes (Aperture), and Evolution of Grace (Gakken). The Gakken book is printed too darkly (at least the copy I have is) but I'm grateful to the book, nevertheless, for the images it shares. Those wishing to catch a glimpse of Mr. Sturges's Irish work could look for an April 2001 copy of B&W: Black & White Magazine.
SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL WORK December 23, 1999
20 out of 28 found this review helpful
This book contains nude young girls either by themselves or with family and friends. A guide tells you what models are in each picture. You will get to follow many of these young ladies as they start at the adolescent age and progress to young adulthood. There are a good many photos of some models and only one or two of another one. These children are very beautiful and Sturges will always have a large audience for his work.
Excellent, beautiful, and thoughtful January 30, 1999
17 out of 23 found this review helpful
After viewing this book several times I believe I have come to understand what the photogrpaher is doing. Seeing the models progress in age and maturity is both exciting and thought provoking. The poses gently force the viewer to see the models as real people verses just bodies or shapes. They, (the models), are there because they want to be there. Their beauty is self evident and the viewer can almost hear their voices saying, "here I am; deal with it world!" The fact that many of the models are nude only makes the voices seem louder and more forceful. How brave of the models and the photographer to stay with their vision in a mad world. Also, after viewing the photographs; I can only view their critics as small minded, misguided, book burning, insecure fanatics uncomfortable with themselves and their own bodies and emotions. God created beauty and Jock Sturges photographed it as only a master could, in all it's beauty.
Sheer beauty - a look at life September 6, 1998
17 out of 25 found this review helpful
I am a white, male, Christian, conservative, Republican grandfather that teaches Sex Education to students the same age as some of Mr. Sturges' friends. How wonderful it is that my students can now see what other normal people their own age actually look like, and that their own body is OK!. Usually, they only get to see what Madison Avenue thinks that they should look like. How sad that Jock is persecuted, while everyday we see the use of little bare babes to sell toilet paper, skin lotion or fashionable pants. I love the book. Thank you Jock, and thank you, Amazon, for carrying Jock's work.
The definitive Jock Sturges monograph May 12, 2001
12 out of 18 found this review helpful
This is by far the best collection of Sturges' work in publication. Unlike the previous Aperture monographs, it displays the images as the artist intended. It follows his chronology, and that of the models, so you can see how they developed over time from young women and men; through their teens, to adults raising their own families. Telling their stories as well as painting their portraits.He portrays them with the familiarity and intimacy of one who is almost family himself; and captures their characters as well as their forms. It is wonderful to watch how the girls and their families grow over time, how they change and develop. One wishes to know more about them as people, to understand the story behind the pictures. His models, though nude, are more comfortable in that state than most people are clothed. There are no clothes, no outside trappings, to get in the way of the full expression of the person. The people he photographs are relaxed and peaceful. His work is free of gimmicks, of artificial tension, of blatant eroticism. It is all about beauty and innocence. He has received numerous accusations of child pornography and exploitation from narrow-minded and perverse individuals. One only needs to look at his work to dispel all notions of such. Only the most twisted and sick-minded person could find his work pornographic. As a Christian, I find it to be a wonderful expression of the beauty of God's greatest creation. The tones of his images are mostly soft, low-contrast. The beach images reflect in sand and sea the same light gradations and textures visible on the bodies of those he photographs; the models seeming to become a part of their environment, but still standing out from the background. Others are more contrasty, both in tone and setting, complimenting rather than echoing the models. The printing is exquisite. Having attended two gallery shows of Sturges' work, and seen the prints, I can say that the book, though it can't reproduce the richness of the tones of the silver prints, does admirably in approximating them. The quality of the binding is superb; and the introductory texts are well-worth reading. A book that i highly recommend for all lovers of find photography.
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