The queer revolution also requires imagination and TASCHEN publications showcase gay artists who have dedicated themselves to creating masculine fantasy worlds. The compilation of images and interviews from gay magazine BUTT represents a more contemporary and gritty cross section of gay life. In The Male Nude and The Big Penis Book TASCHEN charts various histories of the erotic male body with contributions from artists like Robert Mapplethorpe, Wilhelm von Gloeden, and David Hockney. Shifting notions of masculinity over time have resulted in different attitudes and aspirations. From monographs on Tom of Finland to anthologies of significant homosexual artists, TASCHEN offers a wide selection of gay books to satisfy a diversity of tastes.Īs early as the classical male nude or the Physique Pictorial magazines of the 1950s, gay men have always sought out representations of the male body. TASCHEN books recognizes the importance of the visual in gay male culture and the positive role depicting queer desire has in the ongoing gender and sexual revolution.
In the struggle for LGBT rights the need to be seen has always been paramount.
