“Hefner never believed Playboy was an art magazine”. As surprising revelations go, this is more 32AA than 36DD. Yet this is the introductory eyeopener to the 50th anniversary photo selection from the famous lads’ mag. The magazine’s enduring subtitle says it all: “Entertainment for Men”.Playboy is, above all else, the promiscuous pimp daddy of soft-core porn and furtive puerile joys. Or is it? The more I guiltily ogle the astounding selection offered by this book, the more I become convinced that Hugh Hefner, king of dirty old men, is mistaken. Could Playboyreally be an art magazine? The commentary’s pretentious hype aside (“The rules were simple: there were no rules”), this volume is actually packed tighter than Jordan’s bra with remarkable photography. I know the women are selected for their tremendous beauty (from Marilyn Monroe to Cindy Crawford, Hefner certainly knows a nice pair when he sees one), but it’s impossible to deny the photographic skill. A nude Naomi Campbell sprawled among assorted fruits is an unusual piece of art, but it is only one of many centrefolds which provoke a reaction more art-critic than pervy-teenager. The commentary is, for once, correct: “In these pictures, special women become extraordinary”. This compendium tastefully brings Playboy down from the top shelf.
Chronicle Books,
28th November 2003,
Hardback, £29.99
Archive: oth week HT 2004
Playboy
