Jan Saudek

Drawing on classical paintings, historical portraiture, and 19th-century pornographic studio photographs, the erotic images of Jan Saudek reveal a world of fantasy where artistic play and expression are given free range. Using elaborate backdrops and magical costumes, Saudek is both voyeur and participant, photographer and model, shifting back and forth in a style that lends the term autoportraiture new meaning. These 146 color photographs, featuring new and previously unpublished images with Saudek's commentaries, are as much about the artist as about the characters he creates. As Saudek states, I dont have the capacity to portray other peoples lives. I am portraying my own. Spending time with Saudeks images is an unsettling experience, a roller-coaster ride of attraction and repulsion, confirmation and confrontation. The Spectator