Nude Photographs

Photographs from 26 years. Arranged in the order of their occurrence the pictures in this book can be read like a novel. Some of the women turn up time and time again, others you encounter only once.

Thomas Karsten’s photos unfold a silent, long-lasting kind of magic. One can observe how the aura of the nakedness changes in the course of time. The point of view changes, the shapes of the bodies, their forming and let it only be the hair, the way the people move and stand while they are being photographed changes, some how you can feel time. But moreover I sense a magic beyond time.

Thomas Karsten’s art is a mixture of an exact composition – of backgrounds, of light, and also of the moments when the shutter is released – and spontaneous sparks which emit between him and the photographed person – mostly women but also couples, families. He doesn’t force a specific appearance on the bodies and equally they seldom have to show the effort of desperately trying to represent something, like for example attempting to appear erotic. They are, what they are, pleasant, loveable, fresh, dreamy, erotic of one’s own accord. Some of the pictures made me catch my breath. The woman on the stubble field with her eyes closed, her hipbone, the dark spot beneath it, the touch of straw and skin…

And alongside the magic of the many pictures, the book as a whole is a vivid bewitching piece of art. Every eroticism is created in a movement. It is always about an electric tension between two people, between a picture and its observer, a book and its reader, and in the book itself between the individual pages. And while turning the pages this book bubbles over with sensuality. With every renewed look new visions touch you.

“Thomas Karsten is a poet of the female body”

(massiv, 2/2005 about Women only)

“One look into her face is enough to know that she has left behind the limits of professional nude photography long ago. Here it’s about more: love, passion, devotion to the object and the man behind it. (“An erotic ecstasy on celluloid – could be an excerpt out of a Henry Miller novel.”)

(Playboy about Days of Intimacy)

“…for friends of erotic carefreeness.”

(Die Zeit about Moments of Intensity)

“This book is the impressive proof for the wonderful work which can be done in black and white. For precisely this reason the pictures of the women turn out to be more sensual than the glossy prints in the so called men’s magazines. Without extravagant productions, with hardly any staffage, the natural state of the world is also the most erotic one ”. (Frankenpost about Love Me)

“Karsten delivers honest nudes and an almost feminine view. For lovers of the genre Karsten’s hitherto best photo book is a must…” (Photomagazin about Lust an sich)