XXX-cerpts from Taschen's The New Erotic Photography

"W hen I was doing porn magazines, I would look at the selections of images that would come in, and even with the lowest, simplest, crassest photographer there would be one picture that would be a piece of art," says Dian Hanson, one of the editors behind Taschen's The New Erotic Photography (co-edited by Eric Kroll). "The light would fall just right, the composition would come together, the model turned, smiled at the right moment...."

There's always been a fine line between smut and erotic photography, but these days, with pornography becoming more acceptable in popular culture, the distinction is less relevant. "Fine artists can now say, 'No, I'm doing pornography,'" contends Hanson, who worked for such publications as Oui, Juggs, and Leg Show magazines before signing on to work with Benedikt Taschen at his arthouse publishing boutique. "The minute somebody respectable stood up and said, 'What I'm doing is pornography,' everyone else then tumbled in behind them."

The New Erotic Photography is a directory of sorts to these "new pornographers," capturing not only the Marc Baptistes, Terry Richardsons, and Richard Kerns of the genre, but also the likes of Ed Fox, who, when not being showcased by Taschen, can be seen in such venues as Penthouse, Barely Legal, and Club magazines.—Jordan Heller

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