AMERICAN VENUS -- Diane Rozas and Anita Bourne Gottehrer

AMERICAN VENUS: The Extraordinary Life of Audrey Munson Model and Muse
Balcony Press -- hc
Los Angeles -- ©1999 -- 144pp
ISBN: 1-890449-04-0



A brief biography of one of the most celebrated models of her time, Audrey Munson.


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As someone with some interest in art, I have, on occassion, looked at a sculpture and wondered who would have posed for such piece. This book brings brings into focus the life of one such model. And not any model, but one who, by all accounts, was the most in-demand, most-requested, and most sculpted model of her time. Sculptures of this woman, Audrey Munson, still stand atop buildings in cities all over the world.

In some senses, this book is disappointing. There is really so very little of Audrey and her life in here. We know that she posed nude at age 16, was possibly the first person to take her clothes off on film, was highly sought by some of the top artists in the world, seemed to have a mental breakdown and was instituionalized in her mid-thirties, and lived to be 105. But we don't know if she every had any love-affairs. Did any of the artists take advantage of her (or at least try) -- considered to be one of the most beautiful women of her day, posing nude ... seems like a recipe for artistic affairs.

What we do learn, though is quite fascinating. That she was indeed considered to be not only beautiful, but an incredibly talented model ... someone who could find the right pose and bring to it, not only the physical features, but the attitude as well. Her four, silent movies were essentially about her ... a model for artists. A model who disrobes.

Certainly I can't help but look at sculpture differently now. I'll wonder who might have posed and what might they have been thinking. And if it's a scultpure of Munson's era, could it have been she?

A very interesting book and a recommended read. At only 144 pages, and packed full of photos, it only takes a long afternoon to get through this book.