bluestocking
n u d eSitting solemnly among the whispering
curves of nude women in Ralph Gibson’s new volume
from Taschen are statues. Time hesitates around their
unseeing eyes, their bodies pushing hard against the
pull of life. Their missing limbs and rain-etched torsos
announce they cannot escape history.
Through this juxtaposition, Gibson asks if a
photographer is perhaps better equipped than a
sculptor to halt time. His sumptuous, oversized
volume presents hundreds of women in states of
unwavering beauty. Although the images reflect over
four decades of work, there is little sense of historical
disjuncture from page to page. Take away a woman’s
clothing and her body has its own temporality. Only
details draw viewers into linear momentum—tattoos
draw one figure into the present, while a macramé
bikini pulls one into the past.
Carefully arranged, arms often reach upward,
elevating the subject’s breasts so they resemble
marble orbs from a classical vision. Heads and faces
Cover
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