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They're not your girls next door. Fashion and fetish in a female fantasyland

Ellen von Unwerth was a supermodel before the term was invented, so she knows a thing or two about photographing beautiful women. Now one of the world’s most original and successful fashion photographers, she pays homage to the world‘s most delectable females in Fräulein. This celebration of our era’s sexiest female icons includes Claudia Schiffer, Kate Moss, Vanessa Paradis, Britney Spears, Eva Mendes, Lindsay Lohan, Dita von Teese, Adriana Lima, Carla Bruni, Eva Green, Christina Aguilera, Monica Bellucci and dozens more.

Switching effortlessly between colour and immaculate black and white, von Unwerth‘s photography revels in sexual intrigue, femininity, romance, fetishism, kitsch humor, decadence and sheer joie de vivre. Whether nude or in lingerie and a dazzling smile, her subjects are never objectified. Some flaunt personal fantasies; others are guarded, suggesting that we have stumbled into a secret world. Fashion and fantasy were never so enchantingly combined. These images were shot over the last 15 years and many are previously unpublished.

First published in TASCHEN's limited collector's edition — now available in this popular hardcover edition!

"The great quality here is that the power belongs to the subject— any fantasy projected is ultimately her own. To be allowed a glimpse into her world feels like a privilege."
—The Independent, London

The photographer:

Ellen von Unwerth worked as a top fashion model for 10 years, before taking up the camera and becoming one of the world's most in-demand fashion photographers. Her editorial work has featured in countless magazines, including Vogue, Interview, Vanity Fair and i-D, while her major advertising campaigns include Victoria's Secret, Banana Republic, Guess, Diesel, and Chanel. In 1991 she was awarded first prize at the International Festival of Fashion Photography, and her work was featured in Archaeology of Elegance (2002) and Fashioning Fiction at MoMA/Queens (2004). Her many individual exhibitions include a one woman show at the Hamilton Gallery in London, and her photo-novella Revenge (2003) was accompanied by exhibitions in New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Moscow and Beijing.

The author:

Ingrid Sischy is a Contributing Editor for Vanity Fair. A former staff writer, photography and fashion critic at The New Yorker, she was editor in chief of Interview, 1989-2008. She has profiled Keith Haring, David Hockney, Jeff Koons, Nicole Kidman, and Madonna, among many others.

Couples by model-turned-photographer Ellen von Unwerth is what she calls a “fast” book - loud, fun, splashy. Small-size and thick like a bible, it is a very personal and powerful collection of couples of all kinds. Short German text.

The photographer:

Ellen von Unwerth worked as a top fashion model for 10 years, before taking up the camera and becoming one of the world’s most in-demand fashion photographers. Her work has featured in countless magazines, including Vogue, Interview, Vanity Fair, and i-D, while her advertising campaigns include Victoria’s Secret, Banana Republic, and Chanel. Von Unwerth’s TASCHEN books include Heimat, Fräulein, and The Story of Olga.

The classic and coveted  Erwitt retrospective, republished in its original format

One of the all-time greats, Elliott Erwitt is a master whose photographs have defined the visual history of the 20th century — and the 21st. Although his work spans decades, continents and diverse subjects, it is always instantly recognizable. Spontaneous and original, Erwitt’s visions are imbued with true artistry and no trace of artifice. In this definitive collection, the master shares those works he considers his personal best. As you browse this carefully curated retrospective, you’ll feel nostalgia, wonder — and a lasting sense of life’s rich potential.

About the Photographer:

Born of Russian parents in Paris in 1928, the renowned photographer Elliot Erwitt arrived in the U.S. in the late 1930's and studied Photography in Los Angeles. He won recognition for his work in the 1940's and 1950's with the publication of photographs in Life Magazine and Collier's and in 1953, joined the prestigious Magnum photographic agency. The range of his subjects reflected his enormous talents - from the everyday reality of the post-war years to the glamour of Hollywood stars such as Humphrey Bogart and Marilyn Monroe to portraits of political leaders such as Nikita Kruschev. Erwitt later became a highly successful advertising photographer. In the 70's Erwitt refined his sense of irony, and in addition to comedy and film work, shot his landmark series of photographs of people and their dogs, memorably documenting the unique world shared by canine and human. Eliott Erwitt currently lives in New York City.

Probably the greatest cultural icon of the 20th century, Elvis Presley is referred to by his first name only, and also as the `King of Rock `n` Roll`. Throughout his career, he set records for concert attendance, television ratings and recording sales and is one of the bestselling and most influential artists in the history of popular music. This book charts the extraordinary life of this legend, from his early life through his illustrious career, with fabulous rare and classic photographs.

Erotic Photographs by Sylvie Lancrenon

A hotel room in Havana, the midday heat, and a red bed. French movie star Emmanuelle Béart who came to fame as the “Belle Noiseuse”, and Elle photographer Lancrenon stage a serie of highly erotic and intoxicatingly feminine nudes: sweet, sexy, and stunning.

This survey of her extraordinary career includes not only classic and intriguing photographs of Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Paul Newman, Joan Crawford and Elizabeth Taylor, many of whom Eve came to know closely, but also of everyday people at work and at play around the world. Regardless of the subject’s fame, Eve’s unwavering eye and her ability to convey the spirit of the person in front of the lens remains constant.

Created with Eve’s involvement, and featuring texts by Anjelica Huston and Isabella Rossellini and contributions from friends, associates and creative colleagues – Elliott Erwitt, John Tusa, David Puttnam, Michael Rand, Mary McCartney, Sheena McDonald, Jon Snow and Beeban Kidron – this book places Eve Arnold deservedly at the heart of the canon of photographic greats. It also stands as a testament to the keen attention her work has inspired from the latest creative generation.

 100 duotone and 47 color photographs

Swiss photographer Bruno Bisang has been on a life-long artistic quest to document the unending, multi-faceted varieties of the feminine mystique. His photographs are more than mere idealizations of the female form. They are expressions of Bisang's desire to record the independent spirit of his subjects-international models and celebrities such as Claudia Schiffer, Tyra Banks, and Monica Bellucci. This collection of exquisitely observed photographies is a luminous distillation of essence and form, "a record of women's radiance" that expresses Bisang's belief that "Every woman possesses a fount of femininity and unique sensuality".

Bruno Bisang is a much sought-after Swiss fashion photographer who lives and works in Zurich, Milan, Paris and New York City. He photographs advertising campaigns for most of the major fashion houses and his work appears regularly in magazines such as Vogue, Max, GQ, and Amica.

100 duotone and 47 color photographs

Published fall 2004, this collection of exquisitely observed photographs is now available in a beautifully bound, slip-cased Collector’s Edition. Swiss photographer Bruno Bisang has been on a life-long artistic quest to document the unending, multi-faceted varieties of the feminine mystique. More than mere idealizations of the female form, his photographs are expressions of Bisang’s desire to record the independent spirit of his subjects and his belief that "Every woman possesses a fount of femininity and unique sensuality".

* A luminous distillation of essence and form now in a beautifully bound slip-cased Collector’s Edition
* A collection of duotone and color portraits of world-famous models such as Claudia Schiffer, Tyra Banks, and Monica Bellucci

This book, published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same title (Milan, Spring 2009), is produced in collaboration with Dolce & Gabbana. Always audacious, sometimes outrageous, Vogue’s images distinguish themselves by their willingness to explore the limits of contemporary ideas of beauty and they are created by the greatest photographers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The one hundred or so featured prints reveal profoundly sensual and highly provocative narratives that bear witness to complex cultural attitudes toward female appearance and self-expression. From the neoclassical figures of Edward Steichen to the unconventional nudes of Annie Leibovitz, the aggressive portraiture of Helmut Newton, and the modernism of Steven Klein, the photographs in this volume consider the evolving female subject, in all her strength and contradiction. An entire section is devoted to Irving Penn, who transforms the face and body into images of extraordinary imaginative and aesthetic power.

Exploring bold new strategies of representation – computer manipulation, retouching, photomontage, found imagery and methods of veiling and disguising – the artists here present provocative faces to the world that are sometimes alluring, sometimes touching, sometimes frightening, but never less than riveting.

Whether Gillian Wearing’s masked self-portrait, Aziz + Cucher’s neutral façades, Lawick Müller’s composite portrait of a couple, Cindy Sherman’s disquieting disguises or Orlan’s disturbing experiments with cosmetic surgery, these faces demand our attention.

Celebrities rule the modern world, and close behind them are the paparazzi, fuelling the media’s endless fascination with the rich and famous, while they themselves keep a low profile.

Bruno Mouron and Pascal Rostain are respected photo-reporters, based in Paris but ready to go anywhere for a scoop. They began working together in the late 1970s as contributors to the magazine Paris Match, and by 1986 they had set up a formal partnership, founding the agency Sphinx. Over the decades, they have honed the instincts required to catch the moment when a glance, a pose and a setting are most perfectly matched, capturing movie stars and models, rock stars and royalty.

From London to Paris, Hollywood to Cannes, here is a star-studded selection of those who live their lives in the spotlight, sometimes welcoming the camera, sometimes pursued by it.

Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly, Michael Jackson and Kate Moss are among the iconic faces glimpsed in encounters that can be intimate, witty or confrontational. Spontaneity and immediacy are everything, with the blur of movement or the drama of tight close-ups contributing to the creation of some truly memorable shots that could never have been planned in advance.

Packed with striking black-and-white images that hark back to the golden age of photo-journalism, famous challenges us to recognize and celebrate a fresh frame of reference through which great photography can be judged.

Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn was long a hot tip among insiders of the pop scene and the recording industry. His first book, now available again, catapulted him into the limelight and made him the much sought after and celebrated lensman of rock and pop that he is today.

Along with Visconti and Rossellini, Fellini established the fame of Italian cinema. His subject is the life and dreams of ordinary folks, musicians, carnies, and clowns. Fellini biographer Tullio Kezich presents all 23 films, with texts, film stills, partly unpublished set photographs, and sketches by Fellini who was not only a master filmmaker but a gifted caricaturist.

In this book the successful French writer Francois-Marie Banier, whose intellectual mentor was Salvador Dali, reveals himself as a sensitive photographer. He shows his friends from international social and cultural circles in private, relaxed and unmasked.

Though he is best known for his Art Nouveau and Art Deco nudes, when Frantisek Drtikol (1883-1961) passed way, he left more portrait photography than anything else--thousands of images made between 1910 and the 1930s.

This ambitious book is the first ever devoted to those portraits alone. The selection, culled from some 2,000 in Prague's National Archive, presents a gallery of eminent Czechs and Slovaks during the first Czechoslovak Republic, as well as prominent visitors to the country from many walks of life. Apart from their pure documentary value, these images reflect Drtikol's efforts to capture his sitters' inner selves, bridging idealism and materialism.

The artist has also been the subject of The Photographer Frantisek Drtikoland Photographs by Frantisek Drtikol; this volume is compiled and written by Josef Moucha.