Paris from Behind

This book is a photo essay of all the 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century statues of nude men in the squares, parks and museums of Paris. The pictures concentrate on the rarely photographed backsides of these statues. It is a celebration of the beauty of the male nude from the back with a particular focus on the muscular strength, sensual curves and erotic power of the derriere. It also celebrates the sculptors who have created these statues. Almost half were recipients of the Grand Prix de Rome, an award for exceptional young artists to go to Rome to study the art of the antiquities and the Renaissance. The majority of the artists had works shown in the Salons of Paris and most received major awards and commissions. The text features literary quotes about the beauty of the male, often particularly the derriere, by authors from ancient times to the present. The book is the product of a flaneur who had the time and leisure to walk the streets of Paris for the last six years collecting these images always from behind. 

Daniel R. Brooks, a former creative director for several global advertising agencies, has lived in New York, London and Rome. For the past several years, he has called Paris his home, where he lives with his long-time partner, Douglas Scott Perlman, and their two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Loulou and Lolly. Roger J. Kilmartin is an international creative director and designer who has lived and worked in Auckland, Bahrain, Istanbul and London. Currently, he is residing and working in New York, where he lives with his husband, Toby O’Rorke, their daughter, Imogen, and their Jack Russell Terrier, Agnes.