The Kiss: A Celebration of Love in Art

Complemented by highly accessible prose from Bramly, this collection provides a broad and illuminating look at the depiction of kissing in visual art. Images from the Western canon, such as the central panel of Hieronymous Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights" or Rodin's "The Kiss" are set aside examples from other cultures, such as India's Khajuraho Temples, the 1,000-year-old walls of which are covered in sculptures of figures engaging in a wide variety of sexual acts. Yet Bramly and Coulon's tome is no Valentine's Day gift, and not all kisses signify love: Giotto and D%C3%BCrer depict the kiss of betrayal that Judas bestowed upon Jesus, while centuries later, in Joseph Beuys' "The Young Woman and Death," two skeletons, rendered in washed-out ink, embrace one another on an envelope stamped with the word "Auschwitz." More contemporary examples play with the sentimentality inherent in the demonstration of love: Cindy Sherman's "Untitled #305," evokes a surprising amount of passion%E2%80%94 a synthesized sensuality%E2%80%94 between two mannequin heads. Speaking of Brancusi, Bramly writes that the abstract sculptor was "not trying to depict a couple kissing%E2%80%A6 but rather a kiss itself." Indeed, this collection demonstrates how splendidly diverse such a deceptively complex act can be. Photos & illus. (Sept.)