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Photography by Tony Ward, Copyright 2017
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PORTFOLIO CLASSICS: 1993 to 1995
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In the Spring of 1993, Tony Ward became disenchanted with the direction of his career as a professional photographer. After a brief period of self reflection he decided he only wanted to photograph the things that he loved, that he was most interested in and passionate about. It was an epiphanous moment in the artists creative life and career that would define his oeuvre for the next ten years. Tony Ward’s interest in fashion, portraiture and sex took center stage in his visual motifs which led to his first book of photographs: OBSESSIONS, a series of black and white images published in 1998 by Edition Stemmle of Zurich, Switzerland. Many of the photographs in this gallery were included in the final edit for the artists first internationally published monograph, with foreward by the renowned photography critic, A. D. Coleman.
Tony Ward’s erotic body of grainy black and white signature prints began to circulate the international photography press and mainstream magazines such as LIFE, MAX, VIBE, STERN, MEN’S VOGUE as well as various other large circulation print publications editorialized his work. The publicity surrounding the release of OBSESSIONS attracted the attention of Bob Guccione, legendary owner, founder and publisher of PENTHOUSE Magazine. Bob Guccione became Tony Ward’s patron of the arts, and provided the master of seduction free reign to produce as much material on the subject of human sexuality as possible for the pages of Penthouse for its U.S. publications and syndicates around the world. Tony Ward became part of a small group of elite senior contributing photographers for the mass circulation international men’s sophisticate. He often hand delivered his most recent series of prints to Mr. Guccione’s mansion located at 16 East 67th street in New York, often greeted at the door by former New York police officers and the Rhodesian ridgebacks that protected the private life of Mr. G and his invaluable art collection beautifully displayed throughout the sprawling estate on the upper East side of Manhattan.
Tony Ward, a master of black & white archival printing received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1979, produced a major body of photographic imagery, by printing the collection with his own hand and by utilizing his distinctive trademark film exposure and printing techniques, some of which are highlighted in this gallery. Examples of the artists work can be found in both private and publications around the world including: W. M. Hunt, New York, Amedeo M. Turello Collection, Monte Carlo, Monaco, Gunter Braus Collection, Heidelberg, Germany, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Zurich, Switzerland, Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, and the Instituto Cultural Banco Santos, San Paulo, Brazil.
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To access Tony Ward’s complete body of erotic photography, become a Club member, register here: http://tonywarderotica.com/category/membership-account/