The Naked Heartland: The Itinerant Photography of Bruce of Los Angeles

Rating:
Summary: Dishonoring Bruce of LA
Review: Customers who buy Naked Heartland-and the vast majority will be either gay men, photographers, or sociologists-will experience both the pleasure of a formerly hidden slice of American History and the supreme disappointment of a, theoretically at least, "coffee-table" hardcover book whose quality is the worst I've ever seen. Bruce Bellas' studio work of the 50s and 60s is deservedly famous; it's arguable that the elegance and perfection of his images and prints equals those of any American photographer past or present. That he flourished in the tawdry, hidden world of so-called "physique photos" does not denigrate his achievement nor diminish the beauty of his work today. This book is from private collections of very early Bruce, before his studio was set up in L.A. The images are stunning, informal, and far more erotic than one would think-people really did have sex before the fig leaves fell in the mid-60s! However, this is a book from a publisher who apparently has never heard of graphic design, art direction, or typography. It is the ugliest book-for $50-that I have ever seen. The English text is filled with unbelievable typos, apparently introduced during production. A competent proofreader could have fixed this up in less than an hour. Worse, about 10% of the photos are filled with vertical stripes-artifacts that indicate either a dime-store scanner and/or complete incompetence in terms of production. The printing-barely adequate, with a single black ink, is subpar. And the type looks like Mac 1984 desktop publishing. It's absolutely awful. So, although I would rate the content 5 stars, I wouldn't even give the book itself-the product-a single star. Bruce of L.A. deserves much better-such as the earlier Bruno Gmünder collection-and the greatest tragedy is that this material fell into the hands of people who know nothing about art, or at least book design. (By the way, I was an art director for 30 years before retiring and have designed many books.) This hideous book is probably all we will ever get of this material, and more's the pity.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful images, beautiful book
Review: I returned to my copy of Naked Heartland after reading the negative review here, perplexed. What I found was the same excellent book I remembered -- not just Bruce's extraordinary early photographs, but also the printing and design, are, as far as I'm concerned, splendid. There are some typos, but this hardly seems a grave (or unusual) problem in a photo book from a foreign publisher. The volume is clearly a labor of love, reclaiming and rescuing a lost world of homoerotic experience and images, as well as a thoroughly professional and serious undertaking. This is a gorgeous book that I can give the highest recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning Pictures
Review: This collection of photographs are stunning, I had never heard of the photographer until I chanced on this wonderful collection. That they were taken in the 50's makes the erotica much more subtle but beautiful. I could spend hours staring at these amazing pictures.