Nude Theater

photographer max waldman captures the sensuous lyricism of the unclad body as dramatic expression

Dark, compelling, melancholy -- these views of actors and actresses in the nude, by studio photographer Max Waldman, move far beyond the ordinary promotional stills used by theatrical productions. But it's not only the subjects' nudity, nor the chiaroscuro light treatment, nor even the textured graininess that makes them distinctive works of art. Rather, it's the tragic, almost too real, human struggle for self-liberation that they portray. Since finding subjects who can be so expressive is a difficult task, Waldman employs gifted dramatis personae from off-Broadway plays -- men and women who quickly grasp his photographic techniques. Then, in his Manhattan studio, he lights, stages and directs scenes for his camera, often creating them, as for the dancers at left and above. Yet, in the final work, we see past such theatrics -- just as we look beyond the unclad figures -- to see the totality of Max Waldman's photographic art: images of man's striving toward self-realization.