With Child | Howard Schatz

In the ephemeral time period of a woman's pregnancy, the female form takes on a shape that has, for centuries, been a subject of fascination. The months leading up to the miracle of life are, however, often overlooked and underappreciated. Howard Schatz, acclaimed photographer, has captured the moments leading up to birth and after birth with a uniquely artful perspective. With Child is a portfolio of nudes - portraits capturing the sculptural beauty of a woman's body in full bloom and later, with her newborn infant at her side. Expectant mothers of all shapes, sizes, and colors pose in various positions which emphasise the pulchritude of the human body in pregnancy. The figures in this collection are at once mysterious, awe-inspiring, and captivating. Schatz ingeniously plays with texture, shape, and figure in this remarkable collection. In Schatz's studio, all subjects are transformed: one to alabaster; one to marble; another to bronze; one to an Arp; another to a dark etching, and still another to a fantastic zebra-like sculpture. Pregnant nudes go beyond the celebration of a particular stage of the body's life into the conversion of forms and abstract matter. Schatz's approach is as varied as his models, all of whom have a multitude of body types and professions: models, dancers, physical trainers, a chiropractor, a fashion stylist, a performer with the Cirque du Soleil. Photographs of the sculptural and statuesque mother-to-be are juxtaposed with a portrait of the mother with her newborn child.