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"In the fifty-eight images of this handsome, cleanly designed monograph, Sturges sustains a delicate balance on a very precarious wire. He engages us through the tension of polarities: between public and private, between tact and frankness, between childhood and adolescence, between male and female, between artist and model...His purity of intent shines through in the images; his struggle is to observe and render his subjects in all of their complexities, trembling on the cusp of change. The result of this long-term, communal effort is one of the most clear-eyed, responsible investigations of puberty and the emergence of sexuality in the medium's history, making a metaphor of the metamorphosis from child to adult."--A. D. Coleman, The New York Observer

"This is truly a beautiful and compelling group of photographs, an expression of innocence not lost by knowledge."--Eric Fischl

"The gelatin silver prints luxuriate in textures of sand, flesh, cloth, tide pools and gentle waves...superbly printed, expressive in their modulations of light and joyful tonalities...the high mark of Sturges' work is its naturalness, its gentle attentions to the pleasure that can be found in life."--Kelly Wise, The Boston Globe

Book Description
"In the fifty-eight images of this handsome ... monograph, Sturges sustains a delicate balance on a very precarious wire ... His struggle is to observe and render his subjects in all of their complexities, trembling on the cusp of change. The result of this long-term, communal effort is one of the most clear-eyed, responsible investigations of puberty and the emergence of sexuality in the medium's history, making a metaphor of the metamorphosis from child to adult." --A. D. Coleman, The New York Observer In 1990 the FBI entered Sturges's studio and seized his work, claiming violation of child pornography laws. Citizens, artists, and the media responded with outrage. With The Last Day of Summer, Aperture accords Sturges's vision the dignity and respect it so richly deserves. Essay by Jayne Anne Phillips. Paperback, 9.5 x 11.5 in./96 pgs