Updated: May 2003

"Year after year, Coplans has photographed his aging body parts with a startling absence of sentimentality. His hairy back, his wrinkled legs, his gnarled toes and hands....While these self-portraits never include his face, the photos expose Coplans with an intimacy that is not for the timid." —Los Angeles Times

"Initially off putting, occasionally grotesque, and even shocking, I finally come to the realization that what I am holding in my hands is a record of a man, and within that record are found visual commentaries on vanity, sex, aging, even death. Coplans and his camera are unflinching. His photos are unretouched, and his focus is true. Yet the symmetry, texture, and ultimate beauty of these images in unmistakable.... The images in this book repeatedly challenge our conventional notions of art and aesthetics.... Coplans' genius is that he forces us to see the physical nature of ourselves as we truly are, living beings who are growing, changing, dying, all simultaneously." —Dialogue

"The value of this work rests in its scope rather than in its depth. As it covers the almost-20-year period during which Coplans photographed his aging, naked body. A painter, magazine editor, and museum director, Coplans has established for himself and his self-portraits by transcending traditional boundaries, at times alluding to various art historical works and establishing relationships between photography and the other visual arts....strongly recommended..." —Library Journal

"Coplans, who turns 82 this year, began taking nude self-portraits in 1978. Known for capturing the aging process in unflinching, graphic detail, Coplans' black-and-white depict wrinkled backs and gnarled fingers in poses ranging from poignant to absurd." —Photo District News online

"...the oversized monograph captures the sculptural quality of the originals. The incredibly focused—one might even say obsessive—series is multi-layered, with references to sculpture and painting (Coplans was trained as a painter), and informed by feminist theories on the representaation of the body. The photgoraphs are also poignant, sensual, and on occassion, quite humorous." —Art on Paper

"As growing numbers of men stare into their mirrors and at each other, searching for signs of aging and contemplating Botox, liposuction, and sundry implants, John Coplans has published A Body. This oversize volume is impressive, the first to successfully represent the energy and impact of the 82-year-old's imaginative, outrageous, and ultimately poignant self-portraits. For men (and women too) who struggle to gain control over their lives by concentrating on their bodies, for those obsessed with the smoothness of youth and retouched pictures, this book delivers a much-needed Zen slap." —Bomb

"The Naked Truth. John Coplans confirms—unfortunately—that the camera does not lie. Of course we'd all love to cut a figure like the ridiculously ripped by on the cover of this magazine. But let's face it: We have plenty more in common, corporally speaking, with John Coplans, the gifted artist who has photographed his sagging, callused, hefty...in other words, perfectly normal body for the past twenty-three years, from ages 58 to 81. This month, powerHouse Books publishes 115 of Coplans's whimsical yet stark images in A Body. Be prepared to have a newfound appreciation for clothing." —GQ

"These photographs not only display images that are culturally invisible, but also delve into what binds all humans together. Coplans belives that his body, like everyone else's, is the culmination of a process of evolution. His genes link him to 'remote ancestors, both male and female.' It is as if the history of all humankind were written in the creases of his aging flesh." —Canadian Medican Association Journal