Coffeetable Books

Physiognomy: The Mark Seliger Photographs

Elizabeth Shue wrapped in an American flag. The Seinfeld cast frolicking in Oz. Jennifer Aniston, Ben Stiller, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers au naturel. The award-winning photographs of Rolling Stone's Mark Seliger shine a ray of light into the person beneath the celebrity facade. Physiognomy is a gallery of photographs which lends a new dimension to stardom: humanity. Seliger's photographs, gorgeously shot with a dazzling color palette or subtly muted in blacks and whites, show a side of celebrity rarely seen -- catty (Ashley Judd cartwheeling on the beach), melancholy (Brad Pitt wearing an evening gown), seductive (Jenny McCarthy, splattering a hot dog with a stream of mustard), or serene (Loretta Lynn picking tomatoes in her garden). There's a reason why someone who can bring to life the kinder, gentler side of Marilyn Manson is called the "connoisseur of countenance."