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A Rainbow in Black and White
By Kristin Lloyd

Walking the streets of New York in search of his next model, Guenter Knop is met with a world of limitless variation. “ Coming from Germany, New York introduced me to skin shades I’d never dreamt of ”, but as a photographer known for his classic black and white nudes, he prefers to see women of color in shades of gray. “ The thrill for me is not just black or white. It's all of the shades in between”. A cross-section of his work reveals an unparalled array of real women combined to create a colorless rainbow.

Knop proves that beauty proliferates in a world without the imposed boundaries of color, but the diversity of his models is never a conscious choice. The selection process is natural. “Whether her exterior happens to be Black, White or anything in between, the instinct to approach a woman to be photographed is triggered by her individual feminine presence.”

Following the acceptance of an invitation to be photographed is a delicate dance of collaboration. As a result of using real women from a variety of cultures, Knop has cultivated an enviable skill for putting women at ease. “These are not professional models and I have to take into consideration that posing nude is not an everyday thing for them. Photographing them requires sensitivity towards their limitations.” Regardless of her background, a woman can’t help but feel in charge from the moment she walks into his studio. Each of the pictures lining the walls is a tribute, a compliment and, put simply, breathtaking. The desire to be uncovered and immortalized takes hold and her inhibitions begin to fade.

During each shoot a unique chemistry takes place behind Knop's camera. His understanding of the curves of a woman’s body partners with his a innately symmetrical eye. He alternates between encouraging and refining a woman’s creative expression in what he calls the “art of correcting not directing”. “This allows a woman to be herself and in these moments of honesty a special element of her essence is captured and a successful picture is born.”

Light is his primary tool and for every shape and color, Knop's lighting is transforming. A Black woman's skin illuminated becomes white. A pale woman’s skin, caressed by a shadow, exudes rich tones. Another, with her face obscured, bathes in subtle streams of light and becomes the racial equivalent of androgynous. Here races are unified by the absence of color. In each picture, through coercion of the light, Knop brings the spectator face to face with a unifying human gesture or compelling motion, and a bond of recognition is formed.

“The light becomes a paintbrush, revealing depth and drawing lines that transform as the eye involuntarily follows the curvature of the light before coming to rest on a single point or becoming lost in a labyrinth of shadows and light. Viewers may start from different places but invariably you find the eyes all come to rest in the same place”. In this way Knop's compositions are unmistakably intentional. He uses light and cropping as tools to illuminate or mystify, restricting or encouraging the viewers' fantasies. “An idea is presented but aestheticslly and emotionally the pictures are open to interpretation by the individual”.

Conscious of the viewers' hunger for the unexpected, Knop delivers something new in each of his works. When it comes to variety, whether ethnic or emotional, he succeeds where others fail. As he says of his book Guenter Knop on Women, “The promise of uniquness turns the page as you find a new story in every picture”. His photographs find common ground in a sensuality that is discreet enough to attract a woman and raw enough to appeal to a man, but ultimately the expressions of beauty in Knop’s pictures are as diverse as the women themselves.

Art Deco

1996

Friendship

1998
Silver Gelatin Print
28 x 35.5 or 40 x 50

book

2001
Silver Gelatin Print
28 x 35.5 or 40 x 50

African Mask

1996
Silver Gelatine print
11 x 14 or 16 x 20

My dream

2008
Photography
16 x 20

Birth of Venus

2009
Photography
16 x 20

Naturally Nature

2009
photography
16 x 20

Relaxed

2005
silver Gelatine print
two sizes

Classic

2005
silver Gelatine print
two sizes

Light

1998
Silver Gelatine print
11 x 14 or 16 x 29

My siren

2008

Nucleus

2008

Amphore of Love

2008

Sun goddess

2008

Invitation Pasewalk/Germany 3.1.09

2008

Sotherby's 9.October09

2008