The Big Butt Book is the fourth installment of The Big Book Series, edited by Dian Hanson, and is dedicated to the representation of the female buttocks in the history of photography and visual culture. The volume addresses a fascination present in different eras and cultures, from classical Antiquity to the present day, and examines how this part of the body has been interpreted from both an aesthetic and symbolic perspective.
Through more than 400 photographs dated between 1900 and today, the book traces the evolution of these representations, from more restrained forms to more pronounced volumes, placing them in their historical, social, and artistic context. The work highlights how the interest in the female buttocks has crossed cultural movements, fashions, and visual currents, far from being an exclusively contemporary phenomenon.
The volume includes works by photographers and artists such as Elmer Batters, Ellen von Unwerth, Jean-Paul Goude, Ralph Gibson, Richard Kern, Jan Saudek, Ed Fox, Terry Richardson, and Sante D’Orazio, as well as interviews and testimonies from prominent figures in the artistic, cinematic, and publishing fields. The result is a broad visual compendium that establishes The Big Butt Book as a key work within the series and Taschen’s catalog.
