Alair Gomes

by Christian Caujolle, Lauro Cavalcanti, Maria Claudia Coelho

This book is the first to feature the work of the Brazilian photographer Alair de Oliveira Gomes (1921-1992). A philosopher, art critic, and university professor, he was in his fifties when he began to develop a body of photographic work that focused almost exclusively on athletic young men on the beach at Rio de Janeiro. This tireless collector of books, pictures, and films transformed the thousands of pages of his diaries into an immense erotic tableau of black-and-white photographs devoted to the beauty of the male physique. Photographs covertly taken on the beach, or with a telephoto zoom lens from the window of his apartment, were extensively reworked and ordered in carefully constructed sequences. This group of photographs, now preserved at the National Library of Rio, constitutes one of the most original photographic works of the last thirty years. 150 illustrations.

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

Christian Caujolle is a French journalist, photo agent, curator and photographer. He was one of the founders and the artistic director of the Agence VU, as well as the artistic director of the Galerie VU created in 1998. He is the artistic director of the Photo Phnom Penh festival (Cambodia), and of the Château d'Eau gallery in Toulouse.