Herman Puig
My Life, My Mental Nude

A film by David Boisseaux-Chical | 2009

France
fr
en
27'

Herman Puig｜My Life, My Mental Nude

Trailer

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Synopsis

Director and founder, alongside Henri Langlois, of the Cuban Film Archive, he was also nicknamed by some as ‘the Cuban Robert Mapplethorpe.’ Herman Puig was a pioneer of male nude photography. Although very active on the cultural scene in Havana, he was nevertheless erased from his country's history books, his libertarian spirit having always refused to put art at the service of politics. Exiled to Spain, he was caught up in the dictatorship: his experiments with male nudes displeased Franco's regime. It was finally in Paris that his talent was recognised. In this documentary, we find him in his 80s. Herman Puig lives in Barcelona. He has lost none of his gift of the gab or his non-conformism. For David Boisseaux-Chical's camera, he looks back on his turbulent career, his relationship with Cuba, where he is returning for the first time in fifty years, his love of the male nude, which he wants to rid of taboos, and his vision of art, still imbued with the same spirit of freedom.

What you will find in this film

The Cuban Mapplethorpe • a photographer against censorship • a pioneer of male nudes • the spirit of communion in a photo shoot • enduring taboos • a desperate quest for beauty

Keywords

Nude & Erotism Analogue Photography Creative & Exhibition Photography The Artist at Work

For me, the body is also the mind. A naked body must therefore reflect something that is inside the person. In the same way that a portrait expresses the mind through a face, I want to feel the mind in the body, in an armpit, in the pubic area. Because the mind is everywhere.

Herman Puig Photographer

I wanted to observe the body with a different perspective, not a Judeo-Christian one, which is guilt-ridden and full of taboos. I wanted to show the body as the great artists of antiquity had shown it in all its splendour.

Herman Puig Photographer

I live off my daily intake of beauty; it is my nourishment.

Herman Puig Photographer

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The authors/artists

David Boisseaux-Chical

Further exploration

YANG ; Herman Puig ; Chez l’auteur ; 1980

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