The New Erotic Photography (Tachen 25th Anniversary)

This book is outstanding because: 1. Huge, oversized, in size and page count. 2. Quality. Superb layout and printing, both the color and the b&w. 3. Variety. Ranges from sexy/artsy to skillfully done explicit stuff.

It is even better because it includes perceptive interviews with each contributing photographer and intelligent and insightful commentary on his/her work. There are also good captions. All of it in 5 languages, no less! What a delightful difference from many "coffee table" books, which contemptuously have no captions or commentary.

One note; the book is primarily FEMALE nudes. Where men appear they are basically props or fully-dressed interacting with the girls. Fine with me; when I want male erotica/nudes, I'd rather have it labeled as such. Mixing them together in one book is a poor concept and irritating.

Anyone who loves this subject matter and genre - anthologies of female nudes and female erotic nudes - will love this book.

This is the most disappointing coffee table photography book I've ever received from TASCHEN. What a let down. The most interesting photographs in the book are some of the historic samples. The best of the so-called new erotic photographs were from attorney Joan Sinclair's book on Japanese Sex Clubs. True to TASCHEN's usual high quality standards, this collection is beautifully printed and bound, but so many of the pictures are so similar. It's like the censors had risen from the dead and the book ends up filled with rather boring, often sexless photographs. The pictures are almost all of females with only an occasional male being used as a sex toy/slave. I guess men aren't considered erotic? I guess hot teenage hetrosexual couples lusting after each other aren't considered erotic either. This collection was also lacking even an iota of romance. Some of the excellent photographers included in this slick collection have taken what this reviewer considers much more erotic images. Sadly those pictures are not to be found in this collection. I'm sorry to report that 90% of these pictures were boring. There were almost no sexy fetish images or fashions included. There was little fantasy or dreamy eroticism. There were no soft-focus, cotton-candy moody photos. And the weird colored dreamscapes of Jan Saudek don't really fill this void. Thank goodness for Mike James adding a little humor in his pin-up series. Ditto for Olaf Martens who seems to be aiming to become the heir to the Helmut Newton style. The photographs by Ralph Gibson were among the strongest images in the book, although his erotic work is not exactly new-who can forget his wonderful and very famous feather tickling photo that is not in this book. Alla Esipovich provided the book's geriatric senior citizen model pin-ups. I suppose somebody will find those images erotic? According to this collection, girdles seem to have made a major comeback in women's fashion? Panty hose, getting tattooed and little girl's white panties with flower prints hanging on the clothes line are now very erotic. (No slight to Japanese men intended here). There were too many snapshots of partially nude, gutter-tough-looking broads with lots of piercings and tattoos smoking cigarettes and cigars. This appears to be an editing problem or perhaps not enough variety was submitted. But how can that be, this is one of the most photographed subjects on the planet? There were few, if any, beautiful, subtle pictures of people actually doing the deed included. In fact, there was almost no subtly in this entire volume. If this is the best of new erotic photography, then that field has gone to Hell in a hand basket. Much of eroticism exists between the ears and there was little or no mental stimulation, flirting, or come-hither looks and promising smiles captured in this picture collection. It had too many ultra-sharp images of flesh that reminded the viewer more of a meat market or a morgue than eroticism. I'd send the book back for a refund, but I collect all the TASCHEN Photography Books, even this one. I trust we won't have to make these kinds of allowances very often with one of the best photography publishers in the world. I'm so disappointed. Ugh!

I just received this book today. It is full of erotic images as I expected. What I didn't expect to find was the pubic hair inside the book.

This book is so full of great photography from so many talented contributors that anyone can find something to titillate and amuse them. There's no accounting for taste ofcourse but no matter what you crave theres a morcel for each and everyone included in this book. It covers the Mild to Wild territory. From fantastic to grotesque, from beautiful to baffling, from realistic to surreal....well need I say more? A great addition to anyone's collection of erotic photography.

This book is amazing. 600 hundred pages of pure beauty. Anyone who is not famaliar with erotic photographers, like myself, this is a wonderful book to start with. The cost of the book will set you back about the cost of a tank of gas. And unlike gas, you will have the book longer than a week. Every artist is a bit different from one another and shine in their own way. A great coffee table book. Except, i would absolutely put it away when the nephews are over, but not my parents. Classy and sexy. Buy this book now.