|
Forums >
General Industry >
Book review - "New Work 1990-2000" Jock Sturges
Sturges has been around a long time quietly shooting individual and family portraits, primarily nudes. In 1990 the FBI raided his studio and a long court battle ensued because much of his work was of young and very young children, mostly girls. He won the suit, but lost his livelyhood, had his reputation as an artist besmirched and he generally was harmed by the government for making legal art. I've never been a huge fan of Sturges. If one visually substitutes older subjects into his pieces, they become pretty, sweet and bland. Very high quality, mind you, but they only seem disturbing because of the age of the subjects. Because of this, I've never purchased one of his many published books before. I took advantage of the 30% off deal at Borders to buy the subject book, mostly to see if that traumatic year of 1990 had changed his vision, and to support an artist that has fought The Man, and won. The book is made up of color and sepia'd black and white images, again mostly of young girls. In some cases he's followed a model from childhood through adolescence to adulthood. In others, the images appear to be as his earlier work. Beaches, resorts in Europe and some in Northern California are his sets. There are some photographs of nude families, nude boys and men, and a few folks with clothing or towels on. The models all appear extremely comfortable with who they are and with being photographed. There is nothing the least bit sexual in any of the images. For Sturges there never has been. That is why he won the court case; child pornography requires some sexual theme. Format of the book is large and almost square - this is well-used to show the exquisite image quality. The whole book exudes peace, surprising after the trauma Sturges must have still been feeling. I admire the presence of mind it must have taken to continue, and I admire the sheer quality of the photographs. If the book was meant to show that Jock Sturges is alive, working and hasn't been beaten (as implied by the title), it does that well. What it does not do for me, is show a creativity I can recognize (it seems more like a book of landscapes) nor does it provoke thought outside his use of child models. -Don Sep 17 05 12:56 pm Link Excellent. I love book reviews like this. Well done. Better than your Newton critique (which was also enjoyable ). I liked how you quickly mentioned book format. Nice touch. I also liked how you explained your opinions regarding the book. Sep 17 05 03:33 pm Link Great critique...I'm actually a big fan of Sturgess, which strikes some as odd in light of my usual view of "fine art nudity." I definitely agree that his images evoke a lyrical sense of peace...an idyllic innocence that few of us ever actually experience. And it is very impressive that he kept working after his dealing with the thought pol...ahem, i meant the FBI. Sep 17 05 03:52 pm Link I met Jock at a workshop in woodstock, NY in 1997. It's really very interesting to hear him talk about his own work and what people read into it. The fact that he really is close to all of the families that he's been photographing for 2, sometimes 3 generations, leads to wonderful accounts of them grown up and growing old. I have two of his books, and look forward to checking out the retospective- Sep 17 05 04:05 pm Link "He won the suit, but lost his livelyhood, had his reputation as an artist besmirched and he generally was harmed by the government for making legal art." Look at it from another viewpoint. Before his legal troubles, who had ever heard of Sturgess? Now he's close to being a household name? If not for his problems, would he have had a book, especialy a high end photo book published? Sep 17 05 07:13 pm Link Doug Lester wrote: There are always a few Sturges prints on Ebay. Do a search on his name to find the prints. Most will be listed in the art/photography section. They command a high price. Sep 17 05 07:48 pm Link Marvin Dockery wrote: That's pretty much my point. Before his legal trouble, few had ever heard of him. In a way, maybe even in a major way, the publicity surrounding his case made his career. Sep 18 05 07:23 pm Link Doug Lester wrote: Just goes to show you...there's no such thing as bad press...as long as you're aquitted. Sep 18 05 08:52 pm Link I found a website he is a member of. I wonder if we could get him to join MM at least temporarily to give his side in the threads where he and Mann and Hamilton are talked badly about. Apr 26 06 05:49 am Link i saw him speak on campus a few years ago, and his talk about the subjects (and how he grew close to them and established their trust over many years) and his dealings with the FBI (how sending him to prison would basically be a death sentence; how the people searching his studio and home ruined prints and paper, broke things, etc). i bought one of his books then, and the images in it are definitely impressive. (on a side note, i just realized i must have left that book back in Cincinnati, in my old room at my parents' house... which is probably dangerous considering their puritanical attitudes and how much they'd hyperventillate if they ever found it). sensitive, sensual, but not erotic in the least. i know it's been beaten to death, but the hardwired linking of nudity to sex in our culture is frustrating and dangerous. Apr 26 06 08:44 am Link In Alabama his pictures are against the law. They even indicted Barnes and Noble for selling his book Radiant Identities. The sleezy bastards. Apr 26 06 03:58 pm Link jon mmmayhem wrote: You are from Cincinnati? Me,too. Until 98 when I came to California. Apr 26 06 04:03 pm Link Dave Krueger wrote: But did B&A actually lose the case? Apr 26 06 04:04 pm Link Glamour Boulevard wrote: No the charges were eventually dropped. I think the state attorney general saw that it wouldn't succeed when it finally reached the federal level. Barnes and Noble is a big outfit. The case could have put a small ma & pa outfit out of business if they didn't cave in. Apr 26 06 05:37 pm Link A lot of what you said reminds me a lot of Jan Saudek. Saudek is constantly in the Czech equivalent of publications like The National Enquirer. Most of his photographs are nudes. He photographed children nude a lot and did many series of them in the same pose in the same location every 5 years for 20 years or so. Fantastic photographer though. Apr 26 06 07:50 pm Link I think I shall have to bump my Barbara Nitke book review just for fun... Apr 26 06 07:54 pm Link Andrew Fortson wrote: I had never heard of Jan until just now. Beautiful work. Apr 26 06 07:57 pm Link |
