Burns, Marsha. Postures. Photographs by Marsha Burns.

Text by David Featherstone. Untitled 28. Friends of Photography, 1982. Fine. Another copy, very good with minor wear on covers. Another copy, "Gallery Copy" written on flyleaf, minor wear, very good. Includes chronology regarding Burns' career. Portraits, including male and female nudes. 48 pages. Summary:

Postures: The Studio Photographs of Marsha Burns (published in 1982 by The Friends of Photography) is a monograph and exhibition catalog dedicated to the formal studio figure studies of American photographer Marsha Burns. Featuring an introduction by David Featherstone, the book documents an evolving body of work that centers on posture, gesture, and the interplay between light and form.

Key Themes & Technical Overview

• The Studio Environment: Shot inside her Seattle studio, Burns uses a minimalist setting—utilizing natural light, simple backdrops, bare walls, and sparse architectural elements—to heighten focus on the human subject.

• Gesture, Form, and Light: Moving away from traditional portraiture, Burns treats her sitters as formal sculptural elements. The compositions emphasize body language, delicate lighting, subtle physical tilts, and physical gestures over narrative storytelling.

• Androgyny and Identity: The images frequently feature androgynous models in various states of dress and undress, blending gendered clothing items with exposed torsos. This creates subtle friction around gender expression and social expectations.

• Evolution of the Series: The featured sequence traces Burns's progression from classical nudes and reclining figures to more complex, staged compositions that incorporate clothing, props, and manipulated natural light.

Postures highlights Marsha Burns’s mastery of silver gelatin studio photography, capturing carefully orchestrated figure studies where light, pose, and attire intersect to explore emotion, gender, and formal composition.

Marsha Burns (born 1945) is an American fine-art photographer based in Seattle. Originally trained as a painter at the University of Washington and the University of Massachusetts, she shifted her creative focus to photography in 1972. She initially gained critical recognition in the late 1970s and early 1980s for her minimalist studio portraits and figure studies, which used natural light and simple backdrops to explore the sculptural quality of the human form, posture, and fluid expressions of gender identity. Following a 1984 trip to Berlin, Burns expanded her practice toward street-level portraiture, capturing subcultures, youth culture, and marginalized communities in major European and American cities.A two-time recipient of National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, her works are held in major public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.