Before the Camera (French: Devant l'objectif) by Chuck Samuels, initiated in 1990 or 1991 and first exhibited in 1991, revisits canonical images of the female nude by inserting the Montreal-based photographer’s own male body into their place.
Drawing from appropriation art strategies, Before the Camera interrogates how iconic images function by restaging twelve well-known photographs of nude women originally made by male photographers. Samuels places himself in the same poses and settings, exposing the habitual objectification embedded in the genre. This act of gender inversion provokes discomfort, humor, or disorientation, highlighting how the male body appears "precarious and out-of-place" when subjected to the same visual tropes typically reserved for women.
Visually, the series is marked by its fidelity to the originals. Samuels carefully reproduces the framing, materials, and scale of photographs by Edward Weston, Man Ray, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, and others. Both black-and-white and color prints appear, with processes ranging from gelatin silver to Kodak R-4 and Polaroid SX70. Lighting mimics the source material, from soft studio glows to natural shadows, while Samuels himself controls the technical setup, performing each pose with studied precision. Technically speaking, Samuels matches each work's medium and size, down to framing details, ensuring that only the substitution of his body distinguishes the reinterpretations.
Reception consolidated through museum acquisitions (George Eastman Museum; National Gallery of Canada/CMCP; MEP Paris) and exhibitions from the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (1994) to Clamp, New York (first NYC solo, 2015). Inclusion in The Gender Show (Eastman, 2013) and the monograph Chuck Samuels: Becoming Photography (Kerber, 2021) reinforced its role in debates on appropriation and gender.
