Welcome to Stonemaster Press

The merit, the enchantment of any art is determined by how often we return to it. In the case of Dean Fidelman’s Stone Nudes, to experience these black and white portraits a thousand times is to be cheated. When you open Stone Nudes: Art in Motion, you step onto Prince Housain’s magic carpet, and the view is nonpareil. From the wind swept cerros of Patagonia, to the jungled walls of tropical Thailand, to the austere lines of the Arizona desert, Stone Nudes cover some ground.  

We should recognize familiar elements in the eighty-eight duotone images, like the timelessness of Ansel Adams’ landscapes, and the iconic symmetry of Robert Mapplethorp’s nudes. But the Stone Nudes themselves, stripped of artifice and accessories, stand alone, providing a new lens through which to view both the human form and the natural world. But they do not stop there, suggesting fresh takes on perception itself, and in turn, the dynamics of being alive.   

“Perfection is just a moment,” says photographer Fidelman. “It’s how the cloud moves through the sky. That means I can take a picture and actually get perfection, then go on to the next perfect image. In this sense, perfection begets freedom. I’m as free as the elements within the frame, which are always a moving target. And that’s what Stone Nudes are about. Perfect freedom.”

Hardcover. Dimensions: 10 by 10 inches. 88 duotone images, 108 pages. Introduction by John Long, plus ten first-person stories by Stone Nude models.

A Stone Nudes 2011 calendar is included with every Stone Nudes book ordered from this site.