Gilles Néret (1933 - 2005)
Related: art criticism - Taschen - a history of erotica - French erotomaniacs
Gilles Neret is one of those individuals that would seem to exist only in the world of fiction; a one time art magazine editor, journalist and curator--Neret is an embodiment of all things French: he is witty, smart, slightly rude and consistently passionate. For over sixty years, Neret has turned his passion for erotic art into one of the world's most extensive personal libraries of erotic images, a library that ranges from pornography to etchings, as vast in scope as the history of humankind. --sextelevision.net, accessed Aug 2003
Pussycats (2003) - Gilles Néret [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Labial splendor
Enjoy the iconography of the female sex organ from ancient times to today through a diverse collection of etchings, woodcuts, paintings, illustrations, drawings, and photographs by artists such as Rembrandt, Picasso, Matisse, Schiele, Ungerer, Crumb, and more.
Erotica 19th Century (2001) - Gilles Néret [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
This is a varied and somewhat difficult collection. Gilles Neret has assembled examples that are sometimes jarring in their contrasts. There is for example the lushly golden torso, in a tangle of sheets, of painter Gustave Courbet's sleeping female model ("The Origin of the World," 1866) and Degas' nudes (not, I would argue, "erotica" in intention or result). Series of engravings, illustrations for a variety of fancifully obscene books, were in high demand in the first half of the nineteenth century, and they are included. They are nearly cartoonish, and the colors are often garish. There are dream sequences, parlor high jinks, threesomes, foursomes, voyeurs, business being conducted, feathers, orgies, settings indoors (with great attention paid to interiors: carpets, wallpapers, and furniture depicted carefully) and out - whether in nature on the Grand Canal. The men and women in these are in various stages of undress. (Later on in much mainstream pornography, the men would often remain clothed.) This is the stuff of middle-class fantasy - and one suspects it sold well. -- Eileen Berdon
Erotica Universalis (2001) - Gilles Néret [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Erotica Universalis offers us a history of humanity through the highly-coloured lens of eroticism, which has always been very important for art and artists. Alongside the works of famous artists, this book returns to their rightful place a number of unknown or neglected masterpieces till now consigned to obscurity by prejudice and taboo.
Biography
Gilles Néret was an art historian, journalist, writer, and museum correspondent. He organized several art retrospectives in Japan and founded the SEIBU museum and the Wildenstein Gallery in Tokyo. He directed art reviews such as L’Oeil and Connaissance des Arts and received the Elie Faure Prize in 1981 for his publications. Néret is the editor of TASCHEN'S catalogues raisonnés of the works of Monet and Velázquez, as well as the author of Dali The Paintings and Erotica Universalis. --http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/books/sex/new/facts/03278.htm [Jan 2006]
Paris - On Wednesday, August 3, our beloved author and close friend Gilles Néret passed away after a long illness, which he fought with exemplary discipline and optimism. Gilles was an art historian, journalist, writer, and museum correspondent. He organized many major art retrospectives in Japan and founded the SEIBU museum and the Wildenstein Gallery in Tokyo. He directed art reviews such as L’Oeil and Connaissance des Arts and received the Elie Faure Prize in 1981 for his publications.
He joined TASCHEN in 1992 and has since become one of the pillars of the publishing house, authoring best-selling titles such as Dalí - The Paintings, Velázquez, Matisse, Monet, Erotica Universalis and many others. He was one of the closest associates and a very loyal friend to Benedikt Taschen. His charismatic personality, his sense of humor, not to mention his outrageous drawings and diplomatic skills are legendary and will always be remembered with love and affection. --[1]
Meanwhile, at Amazon
your Amazon recommendations