Twinka Thiebaud
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Featured:  Illustration: Portrait fantaisiste du marquis de Sade (1866) by H. Biberstein |
Twinka Thiebaud (December 9, 1945), is an American model who posed for many of the most important photographers of the 20th century. In the work of Judy Dater, one particular photo, Imogen and Twinka, has become one of the most recognizable images caught by an American photographer. The iconic photograph of the aged Imogen Cunningham (the first and perhaps greatest of America's female photographers), coming upon a dryad in the deep woods, is both charming and shocking.
The photo caused a shock wave in America's art world which found itself forced to rethink the female nude. It was the first adult full frontal nude photograph published in Life magazine. The issue came out in 1976 as a Bicentennial Special Issue and was devoted to and called: Remarkable American Women 1776-1976.
Another photo of Twinka by Judy Dater is featured in The Woman's Eye, (Alfred A. Knopf, 1973 ISBN 0394486781), a book devoted to women photographers, and also served as the cover image. The book was reviewed by The Harvard Crimson's Anemone Hartocollis, who said in part: "These aren't demurring women about to extend or accept an invitation, they confront you with their sexuality. Some are beautiful, yet that's not what attracts attention. These women are provocative because their individuality and intellectuality aren't stifled by unctuous idealization. The photographs are precisely detailed, untouched, and of theatrical intensity. One, called "Twinka," is confusing. A frail, attractive girl wearing a diaphanous dress crouches at the base of a gnarled redwood, one arm spanning her breast to clutch a low branch. But her uncanny expression could never be elicited or tolerated by a male photographer: her eyes bore straight out, wide and threatening." Twinka
During her modeling career Twinka was the subject of many photos by many photographers. Images of Twinka
Twinka is also a writer, recently publishing a personal memoir of Henry Miller, as well his table talk through Eio Books.
