Physique: Classic Photographs of Naked Athletes

New York: Thames & Hudson, 2004. Book. Near Fine. Soft cover. First Edition Thus. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Large format paperback, glossy pictorial stiff wraps with large French Flaps. 175 pages. Written and edited by Peter Kuhnst, contributions by Walter Borgers. Includes an index of athletes and photographers. Profusely illustrated throughout with vintage photographs of male and female athletes, predominantly in black and white, but with some color images. First American paperback edition, contemporaneous with the first Swiss edition and British issue. "Peter Kuhnst's selection of images traces the history of the nude athlete in photography from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. From Eadweard Muybridge's motion studies of runners and javelin throwers, through European Naturism, the painterly photography of Pictorialism and Leni Riefenstahl's work under the Third Reich, to contemporary photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, Bruce Weber and Annie Leibovitz, the list of photographers is long and varied, and their styles range from traditional to rebellious to humorous to provocative." No previous ownership marks. Light abrasion to glossy front cover, else a fine copy, clean, fresh and unmarked, with no spine crease and sharp corners. Near fine. Large, oversize book, Priority and International orders with require additional postage, calculated as close to actual cost as possible..