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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Photographers - Part 88

Pat Milo

Pat Milo (1911-1969) was one of the most prolific photographers of the nude male.  Born James Patrick, he worked under the pseudonym Milo of Los Angeles.

I got this self-portrait of Pat Milo from Vintage Muscle Men.  Thanks, Jerry!  Vintage Muscle Men has posted over 300 Pat Milo photos.

Today I will feature some photos from an ad for a book of photos by Pat Milo, above.  I do not have the book, so I'm using photos from the ad.

The ad had photos of the partially-opened book, like the one above.  I was able to use Photoshop to straighten the images.  The left-hand pages were the worst, being more curved and some of them having colored reflections that I had to remove.  The right-hand pages just required minor adjustment.

Above is the result of my straightening an image of Don Hawksley from the ad (left) and the same photo that I found on Vintage Muscle Men (thanks, Jerry).

Here's another photo of Don Hawksley from the ad.

Robert Rex.  This is from the left-hand (curved) page of the photo of the book shown earlier.

Robert Rex from the right-hand page of the photo of the book.

Roger Conte.

Another photo of Roger Conte.

Mike Dunn (thanks to my reader vintage fan 1952 for the identification).

Roger Conte again, wearing a sailor's hat.  That looks like a doughnut, but it isn't.

Roger Conte.

Roger Conte with the doughnut-like object.

Jerry Bayless reading a magazine.

A black model, rare for Pat Milo.

John Manning.

Another photo of John Manning.

And here's the back cover of the book.

My thanks to Jerry at Vintage Muscle Men for helping identify several of the models in these photos.