"Collecting Classic Nude Images"
Newsletter vol. 1 no. 1
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PHOTOGRAPHERS SERIES
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ALBERT ARTHUR ALLENPHOTOGRAPHERS SERIES
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by Baraka
Early 20th century American photographer Albert Arthur Allen is well known for his photographs of boldly posed nude women. Allen's antique original gelatin silver prints, some hand-tinted, are highly coveted collectibles today.
His work is definitely in the realm of semi-erotic fine art -- in an ancient tradition of the artistic nude. Man has been depicting the undraped, unclothed female form for at least 40,000 years! So, in a way, A A Allen's imagery was nothing new in the teens or twenties. The span of his work is approximately 1915 to 1930.
But in his day not everybody was ready to appreciate or embrace such raw expressions of nudity, no matter how artfully done. By twenty-first century standards however his photos are generally pretty tame and demure. Allen sold his prints by mail order to art & photography students (and professionals) rather successfully. And collections occasionally surface in various parts of the US discovered unexpectedly in attics, basements or garages.
In Europe similar photographic studies were an acknowledged part of the academic art tradition. Nonetheless, eventually Albert A Allen ran afoul of America's self-appointed red-white-and-bluenose powers of censorial moral authority. He was prosecuted and apparently served some jail time for distributing 'pornography' though the U.S. Mails. Apparently some folks were (and are) simply not willing to accept that everyone is born naked, and that the pure unadulterated human for is 100% natural and divinely ordained.
Allen was the son of a wealthy New England family and worked originally in Boston. Soon he moved to Northern California and had studios successively in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley. He was involved in a motorcycle accident in San Francisco which left Allen permanently crippled. But neither this, nor his persecution by the Federal government, stopped him from producing a large body of extraordinary works.
In the late teens he wrote his core thoughts about this work: "There is, of course, a fine distinction between the non-essential nude and the true nude. The non-essential nude is a picture which has no message to speak. While the true nude gives a version of beauty, both physical and spiritual -- two great needs of humanity."
Allen kept meticulous note about his models, with nearly an anthropologist zeal for detail and precision. He published at least some of these notes in his later portfolio works. Clearly he was an artist driven with great curiosity and expressive creativity in exploring the infinitely fascinating female form.
The works of Albert Arthur Allen can be broadly grouped into:
a) Naturist nudes, at the ocean and in the woods
b) stark anatomical studies
c) expressive & classic nude dance scenes
d) boudoir & erotic fantasies, and
e) various interior and studio set nude poses
The hairdos are often cropped flapper cuts of the day, though some of his models had more timeless long hair. Many of the poses are languid or casual and understated. Some, on the other hand, such as the dancer groupings, are highly dramatic. In my opinion, his works hold up as stunning visions even a hundred years later. THAT is a sure sign of real art.
As one knowledgeable collector has said, "Allen's work has a natural intimacy and grace that make his pictures very approachable on many levels." All in all exploration of Albert Arthur Allen's photographic vision is an adventure in gentle visual erotic pleasures, well worth the effort.
© 2010 ba-ra-ka.com
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PHOTO GALLERY
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PHOTO GALLERY
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 Women in Nature by AAAllen |
 Seven Sisters Dance Group by AAAllen |
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BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK REVIEW
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Premiere Nudes
Albert Arthur Allen & Daile Kaplan
Twin Palms Publishers, 2001
Reviewed by Jack Gilbert
A TRUE MASTERPIECE!!!
This book is masterpiece! It might even be one of the most important books on nude photography ever published - it's that good. First of all, it's a huge and scholarly look at the life and work of photographer Albert Arthur Allen. The first forty or so pages are all text describing the life and times of the photographer. The information is fascinating and will prove quite insightful to anyone interested in the 1920's and 1930's, especially from an artistic and photographic perspective. And then there are the pictures ... Wow! The hardcover book itself is 10x10 and contains 256 pages of absolutely beautiful, pure, pristine, nude-oriented erotica. Full frontal nudity in all its glory is what made Allen a marked man by many of the "morality police" as well as the legal authorities at the time. And it's what really sets him apart from most of his contemporaries like Imogene Cunningham and Edward Weston, who were considered genuine and legitimate members of San Francisco's art community.
Allen's work could certainly be seen as a reflection of the "high-flying spirit of the Roaring Twenties" and seemed to appeal less to the art collectors of the time than it did to gentlemen who in later times would be fancying Playboy and Penthouse. This is not meant to impugn the artistic merit of Allen's work at all, just the opposite. Allen was just a lot more daring than his peers and this generated an electrifying element of excitement to his photographs, something can still be felt to this day. Initially, a lot of his models were fellow naturists, but towards the end of the 20's he started to recruit more from newspaper advertisements, targeting women who had come to California to chase dreams of stardom. Allen's young women were "clearly crossing the line of acceptable behavior for a proper woman - and they new it." That's exactly what makes this work so exciting, so deliciously naughty. Do whatever you have to do to get your hands on this book - it will not disappoint.
[Premiere Nudes is an exquisite collection of Allen photos. Not cheap, but definitely well worth the investment. Unfortunately the one photo from the book interior that Amazon deigns to show is probably the least interesting & most mundane photo in the entire book. Too bad. The fear of nudity (nudiphobia?) is, unfortunately, still with us, especially in America. And the most vocal moral whiners still get to impose their dogmas on the rest of us. Also too bad. -- Baraka]
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NEW RELEASES
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Inspired by the theme of this issue of Vintage Treasures, a number of superb Albert Arthur Allen photos are being offered on ba-ra-ka.com. NEW RELEASES
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1) First there is a fine selection of the amazingly theatrical images of a group of nude dancers, which I call the "Seven Sisters" (although there are only 6 dancers in some of the shots).
2) Second there is a beautiful selection of outdoor nude Naturist photos, all classics from the Allen lens.
3) Also you will also find the recently released montage image with five poses of the ever popular 'Egyptian Queen' model from the 1920s. They are from the era of the first King Tut craze. One of these poses was featured on a famous San Francisco Family Dog concert poster in the 1960s by Stanley Mouse.
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TIPS
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Photo & Postcard Packaging Don'tsTIPS
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One should always exercise care in mail photos or postcards. A stiffener is recommended, but it should be bigger than the photo, and somehow the photo must be retained within the confines of the stiffener. Otherwise it is often bent on the edge of the very stiffener meant to protect it.
Please don't use Soft-Pack or padded envelopes and expect they will protect photos or postcards. They don't, they only invite bending and creasing. And packing peanuts in the envelope are totally unnecessary and also an invitation to creasing. Several times I have received postcards or photos with peanuts enclosed; every time there was mail handling damage.
Best results are obtained with an envelope that is just big enough for the stiffener with no slop or play for it to jiggle around in transit.
Quality in Reprint Collecting (#1)
The first thing to look for in vintage photo reprints is the type of photo you are buying. Lab developed prints have the best overall quality and the greatest longevity. Period. Anyone claiming otherwise is just blowing smoke. However these days digital prints are faster and more convenient to produce, and a bit cheaper too. So this is exactly what most reprint vendors and most photo services are selling.
Many dealers, and photo services as well, are very clever in how they parse their words in their descriptions, implying 'Real Photo' without using the long accepted term. Lots is said about the quality and manufacturer or the paper, but often the actual method of printing is just not mentioned. A sure sign of a digital print.
Digital prints are being laminated and/or coated to make them more water-resistant. But they are still inferior digital prints. Often colors are over-saturated or of significantly higher contrast than the original. Lots of yellow in the brights of a sepia photo, for instance. These are some more signs of the digital print.
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