Louvre Nude Sculptures

The idea for this book was born in the course of a stroll through the Louvre, when Catherine Belanger ventured to call the Louvre ‘the biggest brothel in the world’. Key works illustrate the artistic approach and the representation of the nude in the Western world from the 7th century BC to 1897. Lois Lammerhuber detaches the nudity, sensuality and sexuality of the sculptures from the context of their artistic intention, conceiving them as ‘material’ in a fictional photography studio and recreating them in his photographs. He resorts to these ‘models’ to translate them into the language of fashion, nude and advertising photography – sensual and unexpected. The images are accompanied by Jean Galard’s reflections on this approach from an art-historical and philosophical angle. In its design the book is reminiscent of bronze and refers to the haptic character of sculpture.