Photographers - Part 94

Eugène Durieu

Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu (1800-1874) was a very early French photographer.  He had a career as a civil servant, rising through the ranks until he was dismissed and forced into retirement in 1850 for reasons that are unclear.  

Meanwhile, he had become interested in the new technology of photography.  The daguerrotype was first publicly demonstrated in 1839.  Durieu may have been taking daguerrotypes as early as 1842.

Durieu became friends with the artist Eugène Delacroix, and together in the 1850s they experimented with Durieu taking photographs and Delacroix making art from them.  Durieu was particularly interested in nudes, both male and female, which provided Delacroix with suitably artistic subjects.  Above is an undated Durieu photo of a nude man with a pole.

Here is an undated Durieu photo of a sitting nude man.

And above we see a drawing by Delacroix where the figures at the center and right are clearly based on the previous two photos by Durieu.  The figure at left probably was, too; but I couldn't find the corresponding photo.

Here's a nude man resting on a leopard skin c. 1854.

And a side view of another man on the leopard skin, c. 1854.

A nude man that Durieu presumably photographed for Delacroix, c. 1855.

And what looks like the same man holding a different pole, c. 1855.

Durieu's photos are very old, so naturally they are not all in prime condition, but I think the photo above, labeled Male Nude Studies 1853-54, is still in remarkably good shape.

Photographers - Part 93

 Guglielmo Plüschow

Guglielmo Plüschow (1852-1930) was a German photographer who moved to Italy in 1870 and changed his name from Wilhelm to Guglielmo.  He became known for his nude photos of local youths.

Vincenzo Galdi, 1890.  Plüschow was gay.  Galdi was a favorite model and seems to have been Plüschow's lover.  Galdi later became a photographer in his own right.

Male Nude Seated on Leopard Skin, 1890s.

A Sicilian Boy Posing Naked Outdoors, c. 1900.  This might be Galdi.  Although he's called a Sicilian boy, and Galdi was from Naples, at one time all of southern Italy, including Naples, was part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Curly-Haired Boy From Behind Playing a Fife, 1900s.  This looks like the same model as the previous photo.

An Old Man and a Youth, 1900-1907.

An undated photo called A Sicilian Boy, Posing Naked Outdoors by a Doorway, Taormina, Sicily.

Naked Man Before a Black Brocade Cloth, 1900-1907.

We end with Naked Algerian Boy Leaning on a Black Cloth, 1904-1907.  Plüschow and Galdi traveled to Algeria in 1904, where they lived and worked for three years.  In 1907 the parents of some of Plüschow's young models complained to authorities that he had had anal sex with their sons.  Plüschow was convicted and imprisoned for three years.  When he was released, Plüschow left Algeria and moved to Berlin.

Note that this youth was circumcised, as most Muslims are, whereas the Italians were uncircumcised.

Photographers - Part 92

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Photographers - Part 91

Robert Mapplethorpe

Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) was an iconic photographer of male nudes.  At the start of his career in 1973, people received an invitation to Mapplethorpe's first show of his Polaroid photos in the back room of New York's LIGHT gallery.  When they opened the invitation, they saw the photo above with an adhesive dot.

And when they removed the dot, they saw this self-portrait of Mapplethorpe with his camera.

Here's another 1973 Mapplethorpe self-portrait.

If you want to know what the rest of Mapplethorpe looked like, here's a 1978 self-portrait with a whip up his butt.

Of course he didn't just take self-portraits.  This photo is called "John NYC", 1978.

Marcus Leatherdale, 1978.

Ron Sims, 1978.

Phillip, 1979.

Scott Daley, 1979.

Charles Bowman, 1980.

Dennis Speight, NYC, 1980.

Man in Polyester Suit, 1980.  The model is Milton Moore, Mapplethorpe's lover.  In 2015, this photo sold at auction for $478,000.

Bob Love, NYC, 1981.

We end with Thomas, 1987, but there are hundreds more Mapplethorpe nude male photos.

Robert Mapplethorpe died of AIDS in 1989 at age 42.

Photographers - Part 90

Danny Fitzgerald

Danny Fitzgerald (1921-2000) was a Brooklyn-based photographer whose work was ahead of his time.  In the 1940s and 1950s he started by photographing scenes of everyday life, with some shirtless subjects,  but no nudes.

Then, in 1958, Richard Bennett (above) moved to New York to become an actor/model.  He sent his portfolio to Danny, who invited him to do a photo shoot.  The two became lovers and stayed together until Danny's death in 2000.

Richard also became Danny's business partner.  They called their photography studio "Les Demi Dieux", which means "The Demigods" in French, and Danny started photographing nude men.  Above, Richard Bennett.

They published photos in many of the gay physique magazines of the time.  Above, Richard Bennett.

Danny's photography took a more artistic approach to male physique photography than most other physique photographers.  He also used outdoor locations for many of his photos.  Above, Richard Bennett.

Richard Bennett was not the only model he photographed.  Above, Tommy, 1964.

Orest Daszo, Smoking, 1960.

Swim Hole, New York, 1964.

We end with an unnamed model sporting angel wings in a cemetery.

Les Demi Dieux was active only from 1958 to 1968, and after that Danny Fitzgerald stopped taking nude male photographs.  The reason is unknown, but perhaps after the courts legalized full frontal male nudity in the late 1960s, Danny may have thought that his carefully composed works wouldn't sell in the flood of cheaply produced gay porn that followed.

Danny Fitzgerald died in 2000 without ever having exhibited his works in a gallery.

Photographers - Part 89

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