COMMENTS & REVIEWS

A few choice comments about THE SPIRIT OF LADY GODIVA: Can you believe it? Someone actually got naked in front of that restaurant! --- Anon. His style is stop, drop, and snap. He brings new meaning to the photography term instant flash. --- Lori J. Montoya, Albuquerque Tribune Harvey was photographing eight nudes atop the State Thetare. There was an Art Fair record set for unfinished sentences: “What the …” “Are they…” “Oh my God…” A woman said, “I wish I’d brought my camera.” Another said, “I wish I’d brought my glasses.” --- Jack Gillard, Ann Arbor News This behavior could be hazardous to people’s health, whether it’s the naked runner or a bystander having heart failure. --- Chelsea [Michigan] Police Chief Lenard McDougall

Below we present a review of THE SPIRIT OF LADY GODIVA. It is forbidden to reproduce any of this material in any location or in any medium or format without the prior written consent of Heureka Productions.

(reviewed by Mark Storey, reprinted from Going Natural, Vol. 17 No. 4, published by the Federation of Canadian Naturists)

It has been a long time coming, but Harvey's book The Spirit of Lady Godiva is finally available and well worth the wait.

Harvey (he goes by one name) has spent the last eight years training scores of volunteers across the United States to place themselves unobtrusively in well-known public places, to strip quickly, to pose as a natural part of an often crowded urban setting, to get dressed again, and to scamper away before tumult sets in. The result is a delightfully whimsical look at what might be, if only society lost its unease with the human body.

The key to appreciating Harvey’s quixotic approach is to relax and have fun with the 280-page book’s 133 black-and-white images. Naturists worried about offending others by exposing their humanity in public may not be able to “get it.” Those not ashamed of their naked shadows and who have experienced---or dreamed of experiencing---the lighthearted fun of injecting a brief sense of naked rationality in a body-phobic world will understand and love The Spirit of Lady Godiva.

Paul Rapoport worked with Harvey as the book’s editor to create a remarkable statement about the ease in which nudity could be a normal part of everyday life. Naked women select floral arrangements at a city flower stand; a nude man scans a billboard announcement for upcoming films; the clothed and unclothed mingle together at a lake shore café…and the world continues. This is a world where nudity is no big thing and can be enjoyed casually in ordinary life.

This massive publication---like most other quality art and photography books---does not come at a low price, but if any book of interest to naturists is worth US$40, this is it. Each photo is accompanied by an anecdote or comment related to the shot. The book would be a valuable addition to any naturist library if it contained the photos alone, but Harvey’s sense of humour and optimism for the future of nudity in our culture are amplified in the text. Words and images are fully symbiotic here, as one plays off the other.