The White Book is a new photographic series by photographer Jonathan Icher. The series interprets the illustrations of Jean Cocteau’s book of the same name. The book, published in 1928, is about the discovery of the author’s homosexuality, although he never admitted authorship of this work.
Yet, the second edition of the book contains illustrations by Jean Cocteau, which Jonathan Icher used as inspiration for creating his artworks. For this project, Jonathan worked with Ryûq Qiddo, Matthieu Reboul, François Sagat, Arthur Gillet and Florian.
“I was struck by how these illustrations of hybrid lovers reminded me of my own photographic work dealing with the human body and its metamorphosis. Both erotic and troubling, they depict male fantasies of our time, in a tangle of bodies sometimes unidentifiable. They can be interpreted as a romantic idyll, as much as an erotic struggle, or, on the contrary, as an introspection.”
Credits:
Photos : Jonathan Icher @jonathanicher
Illustrations : Jean Cocteau
Assistance : Ryûq Qiddo @ryuq.qiddo
Models : Ryûq Qiddo @ryuq.qiddo, Matthieu Reboul @mattrebpro, François Sagat @francoissagat, Arthur Gillet @arthurouge, Florian @fkfbrln