From the archive
Nigel Atherton looks back at past AP issues
9 June 2001
AP’s annual Erotica issue was a celebration of fine art nude photography. The 2001 edition was curated by me – I was the Features Editor at the time. It featured work by leading photographers like Andreas Bitesnich, Pascal Baetens and Howard Schatz, plus interesting work from less-well-known names like Cat de Rham, whose arty nude selfies predated the Instagram era. I looked at the history of the male nude, and the greatest names in this genre – Horst, Platt Lynes, Hoyningen-Heune, Mapplethorpe, Ritts, Weber – who were mostly gay men, and questioned why there were so few women either shooting or consuming this kind of imagery. Most of the top photographers of fine art nudes were (and still are) American or European – perhaps because Britain is less comfortable with sexuality. Our lone entry in the international pantheon of greats was Bob Carlos Clarke, who was actually Irish. My interview with him was the highlight of this issue and, in hindsight, is tinged with more than a degree of sadness. ‘Bob Carlos Clarke is in reflective mood,’ I began. He talked about his disillusion with the UK photo industry, how photography wasn’t valued in Britain, how the skill of artists was neither recognised or rewarded, how difficult it was to earn a living, even for a big name like him, and how success in the UK was despised rather than celebrated. Less than five years after that interview he took his own life. It was a huge shock but re-reading this interview the signs were all there. And nothing has really changed.