Bare Backs Censored?

Much controversy at Tuscan High School in the USA this week as topless photographs have led to a new school rule, outlawing the photographing of students not conforming to the school dress code.

The rule has emerged, it is believed, after the school's decision to censor some 'topless' photographs that had been hanging on the walls of a teacher who was recently suspended.

The reason for his suspension is not divulged, but is believed to be due to the "inappropriate" photographs of students on his walls.

The so-called topless photographs feature models with their back to the camera (see picture). I haven't any more pictures, so I'm not really in a position to comment. But I do wonder where the line should be drawn between what is appropriate and what isn't?

I think it's plainly wrong for a teacher to have sexy or erotic photographs of students on his walls. But when is a picture sexy and when isn't it? I mean, I refer to many sexy nude photographs as "artistic", but I would never want them to hang on the walls at a high school or college as it would be inappropriate in my view.

One "problem", I think, is that the sight of female skin is always likely to arouse. What's more, although the models have their back to the camera, it is obvious they are topless - and it's a reflex, inherent in men, to think "Hmmm ... topless girl - nice!"

But it's a nice problem. Imagine if we men were never aroused by the sight of a female? It doesn't bear thinking about.

My conclusion is that the pics are probably inappropriate for the school walls, but they're probably very nice photos - best kept tucked away in a drawer somewhere.

Related Links
Censored pics may be tied to rule change - Tuscon Citizen

Hegre Goes Czech

If you're familiar with Petter Hegre's site, The Hegre Archives, you'll know that he travels the world looking for new amateur models to photograph.

For his most recent field trip, he's chosen the Czech Republic, having arrived there only yesterday, according to his web site, and he's already snapped some local talent in Prague.

He has them visit the apartment where he and Luba are staying and begins photocasting them there. The following line from Petter made me feel so jealous:

"Always eager to get started I had scheduled an early casting, so models started to arrive at our apartment and dropping their bras even before we had fully unpacked."

Imagine beautiful eastern european girls showing up at your flat and dropping their bras before you can say "whafuck...?".

Jealous, moi?

Related Links
Czech Travel Report - Hegre Archives Members Area

Guccione's Fresh Start

Bob Guccione, former skin magazine mogul and founder of Penthouse magazine, is moving to South Florida to devote his publishing to art and science.

The man who founded Penthouse magazine, which went on to become a major rival of Playboy - even outselling it in the UK - plans a new beginning, after being reunited with his son after a 17 year estrangement.

Penthouse magazine, founded here in London in 1965, was famous for its soft focus nudes and muckraking journalism. But, like many nude magazines, Penthouse has been hit hard by the Internet boom, and Guccione lost his most sacred title last year during bankruptcy proceedings.

"Despite everything, I managed to sock away quite a bit of money," Guccione claimed.

One has to admire the character of a man whose fortunes have been erratic over the years. The 100-cigarettes-a-day man even managed to fight mouth and throat cancer in recent years. And anyone who takes on Playboy with relative success deserves a bit of credit.

Bob Guccione, Hi-Nude wishes you all the best in your new life.

Related Links
Penthouse Publisher Charts New Path - Duluth News Tribune

Galitsin Pics at ATK

I recently signed up with ATK Premium again, to see how the new site is coming along, to find many more models since I last had access to the members area.

My biggest surprise was to find several Galitsin girls featured at the site. It seems ATK wanted more artistic content for their site and decided to call upon the Russian Master.

I've noted exactly which models are there, as well as the names they are given at ATK (why can't models keep the same stage name?). They are as follows:

- Frosya (Anya at ATK Premium)
- Vanna (Anna at ATK P)
- Valentina (Ira at ATK P)
- Julia (Nina at ATK P)
- Kim (Olga at ATK P)

Related Links
ATK Premium - New-ish arty nude site of ATKingdom
ATK Main Page - Choose from all five ATK sites

Karol Kallay's Secret Nudes

Slovak photographer Karol Kallay may be best known for his cityscapes, but he has recently opened a new exhibition at Bratislava's Mirbach Palace that shows another side of his work.

The show, entitled 'Fashion and Acts', features more than 60 photographs, taken at various times over the past twenty years, of both fully clothed and nude women.

Nudes remain but a small part of Kallay's oeuvre, most of them being unplanned. The photographer would occasionally spot a beautiful woman and ask her to pose for him. Only a few have ever refused him.

Kallay claims that his nudes represent a search for perfect beauty in a female body, allowing them to impress in close-ups. His work is also distinctive because of the masks the models wear, to represent the masks people wear "all their lives".

When I first saw a masked nude of Kallay, I thought I was looking at a photograph by Grigori Galitsin, who oftens has his models pose wearing masks. In truth, it is more likely Kallay who is the trend setter.

The exhibition offers an execellent chance to see some of Kallay's lesser known work, and is open at the Bratislava City Gallery (GMB) in Mirbach Palace at Františkánske square 11 until June 12.

Related Links
Kállay's shutter reveals all - Slovak Spectator article.

Leonard Nimoy's Nudes

Most people know him as Dr Spock from Star Trek, but Leonard Nimoy has many strings to his bow, including photography.

Female nudes seem to be his preferred subject (of course, this is Hi-Nude after all) and many of his images can be seen at his web site. Whilst many of his subjects are what you might call 'typical' nude models, he's now approaching his work from a less traditional perspective.

His new exhibition, due to open this summer, is entitled Maximum Beauty, and is dedicated to photographs of women of a fuller figure.

Ashamed as I am to admit it, I do have a distinct preference for slim nudes. I have nothing against large women per se (my own mother has always been very large) but the larger the lady, the lesser my attraction to her.

But despite my own preferences, it is undeniably a breath of fresh air to see larger women as the subject of nude photography.

It's not the first time that Nimoy's nudes have caused a stir. Two years ago his book Shekhina caused some controversy with its mix of female nudes and religious iconography. His newest work is bound to draw some interesting reactions.

It features over-sized women from California burlesque club Fat Bottom Revue, described by Nimoy as "proud people". "The women are interested in fat liberation. Their self-esteem is strong. They will tell you that too many people suffer because the body they live in is not the body you find in the fashion magazines."

I've been reading some comments from women who have been impressed with his shots of over-sized models. Indeed I imagine his show may appeal to many more women than you would normally expect. I'll leave you with some choice comments.

"One of the ladies has a body shaped exactly like mine, same size and everything. And she looks fabulous! Thank god for people who can see beauty in what the rest of the world sees as imperfect."

"It never ceases to amaze me - the amazing amount of variation in the human form. All are beautiful, all are utterly normal. I love it!"

"Leonard Nimoy has often seen the beauty that others were too prejudiced or dense to recognize, and these inspiring images furnish yet another example."

Related Links
Nimoy's Fat Photographs - BigFatBlog.com article with feedback
Leonard Nimoy Photography - Official web site of Leoard Nimoy

Liz Jagger to Pose Nude?

Liz Jagger has apparently stunned her father by considering to pose nude for Playboy magazine.

Veteran rocker Mick Jagger is reported to have "hit the roof" when he found out his 21 year old daughter was considering a spread for the infamous periodical.

Playboy meanwhile have confirmed that an offer has been made, but insist that no deal has been struck. They would not confirm the sum offered, but it is believed to be around 380 million dollars.

A source at Playboy did say that "It would be a very tasteful set of nude photographs. We very much hope she does it."

Related Links
Naked Liz Will Stagger Jagger - The story accoriding to The Sun

Vanessa Beecroft's 100 Nudes

Perhaps one of the more controversial artists of our times is Vanessa Beecroft, the woman who gets other women to pose nude in public to create her art.

Her latest show, enititled VB55, was staged in Berlin on Friday and has attracted visitors in their hordes. Could it be due to the 100 naked women on display?

Like many artists who use live female nudes as their subject, her work polarises public opinion. Some say she is exploiting women, while others praise her feminist bravura.

Whatever your view, you cannot deny the success of her shows. Beecroft has been working along the same lines for over a decade now, and each show (VB55 is her 55th show) is more elaborate than her last.

Taking place at Berlin's New National Gallery - Die Neue Nationalgalerie - VB55 is Beecroft's most ambitious exhibition yet. It features one hundred 'ordinary' women, aged 18 - 65, standing as still as possible and under strict instructions not to look sexy. Beecroft intends the women to look as natural as possible, while remaining cold and detached from the audience.

The show lasts three hours and, by the end of it, most of the women look exhausted and thoroughly relieved. So what is Beecroft trying to achieve here?

"It's not a concept that can be easily explained. I would say it includes embarrassment, shame, violence and abuse. There is a feeling of embarrassment, no matter if the viewer is a man or a woman" said Beecroft in an interview with The Observer.

Whatever her works says, her shows are always popular. Each one is videoed, with photographers also able to take close-up shots, a practice that that disturbs some. "It's kinda creepy to be honest, seeing guys taking close up pictures of the girls", one visitor told me.

But according to the man who 'discovered' her, Jeffrey Deitch, Beecroft is one of a handful of artists "using sexual imagery from a very powerful, very feminine point of view ... a kind of powerful sexual imagery that can even intimidate the male. If one is present at a Vanessa Beecroft performance, they are not erotic. You feel the power of the women's presence. It is an intimidating image."

Whatever you believe, it is likely that the resulting three prints and solitary DVD will establish a new record for sales of Vanessa Beecroft's art. Just watch this space.

Related Links
Take 100 Nudes - Article from Guardian Unlimited
Vanessa Beecroft - The artist's official homepage

Nudes: Art or Porn?

There tend to be two very different opinions regarding artistic nude phototgraphy. Some maintain there is such a thing and defend the concept staunchly.

Meanwhile others rubbish the idea, dismissing such work as mere pornography. I can understand both viewpoints, but I take the view that pornography can be artistic - and I've even written an essay on the subject.

In a philosophy exam at university, several years ago, I chose the following question to write about: "Discuss the claims of two of the following, to be considered art" (or something like that) and one of the options was pornography.

Naturally, I chose to discuss the merits of pornography in being considered art. I think I did pretty well too, because I passed that question with distinction.

I won't repeat my case here, as it's far too lengthy, but the essence of my argument was that a piece of art is a man-made creation of great beauty. Everything we see in nature is beautiful. The only blights on our landscape are the cheap, ugly buildings and other man-made artefacts, that can be seen all over the world. Buildings can be beautiful, of course, but usually are not.

So when a human being creates something of beauty, we normally call it art. A photograph of a beautiful woman, therefore, must be art as it is man-made (with the help of a man-made camera) and it is also beautiful because the woman is beautiful.

It may not be the strongest argument ever heard, but if one applies the logic to all softcore pornography, it's clear that artistic nude photgraphy must exist.

Now I wouldn't seriously claim that all porn is art. My answer to the essay question is not totally relevant, as the way to pass a philosophy exam is to prove you can argue the case for anything.

But I do feel that some pornography is artistic, otherwise I would never have started hi-nude.com. The nude sites I recommend here are those which feature artistic nude photography and not trashy porn sites.

As hi-nude is a new project, let me recommend a site that will introduce you to the most artistic nude sites currently online. Artistic Nudes features site reviews as well as articles if you delve deeper. Just a look at the homepage will tell you if there is such a thing as artistic nudes. Check it out sometime.

Related Links
Artistic Nudes - Featuring artistic nude site reviews, links, & articles