Nudes
by David Lynch
Thames & Hudson | 240 pp.

In a recent announcement of filmmaker, photographer and painter David Lynch’s newly published photography collection, the HBO series Vice characterized the book as “Lynch exploring the female form with his trademark alien eye.”

“Alien” might aptly describe Lynch himself, but the subject matter of Nudes is quite the opposite. These 125 predominantly monochrome studies are treated with taste, restraint and an almost childlike fascination. Almost all are close-ups, some extremely so, right up to the edge of pure abstraction. But even the most puzzling are intimate, Bill Brandt-like cameos of classic, earthy female beauty.

Lynch has a take on the reality of human figures and faces that many of us tend to miss—that these features are combinations of tiny individual details, like blades of grass, and there’s perceptual value in seeing them like this, isolated in individual photographs. For those of us who work with glamour, fashion or boudoir imagery, this book is an inspirational learning tool from our own visiting alien.

Price: $65
thamesandhudsonusa.com

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