Nude and the City: Klaus Thymann’s Shanghai Nudes

To be noticed in a city of over 18 million is an art. Klaus Thymann confronts the backdrop of the anonymous megacity Shanghai with a pure sex appeal of Western making. The beautiful blond, who in public spaces is still restrained but in the supposed security of an endless landscape of rooftops sheds her cover, originate from the universe of a master of erotic photography: Helmut Newton. But different from Newton’s scenes, in Thymann’s photographs there is always a component of danger, of being discovered by the foreign residents of an exotic urban landscape. This creates a tension that can only emerge in places where cultures collide.

Klaus Thymann lives in London and has filmed music videos for bands and musicians such as Depeche Mode, Coldplay, and David Bowie. In many of his series he integrates elements of current trends of the most various subcultures. Shanghai, for instance, does not seem the shiny new product of a massive economic boom; rather, he shows its rough edges. The skyline and the luminous neon lights of the city are filtered through smoke; the beautiful visitors lie naked on cement. Thymann’s visual world does not look born of the superficial world of glamour. It is both authentic and unreal.

Horst Klöver