Walter Pfeiffer’s faces are naïve. Lewd, innocent and brutal, yearning, greedy and shy. These faces breathe desire, prescience and eloquence. As embodiments of an adolescent vision that possesses the irresistible power of pure seduction, they fix and hold viewers spellbound, regardless of standpoint. Pfeiffer’s photographs speak with the instinct of the moment. The essence of eros, as movement ceaselessly erupting from within and penetrating everything around it, could hardly be portrayed with more immediacy, more simplicity and, paradoxically, more immaterial imagery. There is nothing superficial about the artist’s choice of subject matter: the face. The pictures reproduced in this publication are the outcome of a prolonged and extensive project. The inescapable appeal of these young men, photographed between 1980 and 1986, lies in the characteristics that typify youth, from facial expression to haircut.
