The Nude

Excerpt from the Foreword by Normal Andre de Dienes is one of the great photographers of these times. He is at once a mixture of restlessness and curiosity; he is a person of great sensitivity, a perfectionist who can never quite be satisfied. He has the drive and dedication of an artist and the technique of a master photographer. His success in nude photography - and, I honestly believe, he is the finest exponent of this difficult field in the world - depends on a combination of varied attributes and skill. Certainly, the nude is no subject for the dilettante; but de Dienes is a specialist of many years' experience. Elsewhere he tells something of the trouble he takes in the selection of models and location, the choice and arrangement of "props", the long wait - or rush, as the case may be - to catch the light just as he requires it for his purpose, the mental strain which accompanies the physical effort of a prolonged session. Unintentionally, too, he pays a considerable tribute to the Rolleiflex when he revels that all the pictures in this most notable selection were made by that versatile little camera.