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With his glamorous dream worlds, the American artist James Bidgood revolutionized photography in the 1960s.
His dazzling and masterful stagings of naked young men in exuberant settings -- as a provocative alternative to social prudery -- are part of the canon of 20th century photography. Combining iconic motifs from Bidgood's oeuvre with previously unpublished photos, 'Dreamlands' takes you on a fantastic trip with images that sparkle, glitter and seduce.
James Bidgood was a stylistic precursor of Steven Arnold, Pierre et Gilles, and David LaChapelle, James Bidgood (1933-2022) was the first to take the pulp and glamour aesthetic of the 1940s and 50s and apply it to male erotic fantasies. From a midtown tenement during the 1960s, Bidgood completed the bulk of his creative output of photographs using vibrant colors and exaggerated props and costumes to celebrate homosexuality. His works were first published in underground magazines, and he was also the anonymous filmmaker of "Pink Narcissus" (1971), an explosion of colorful eroticism that has stood the test of time.
Photographer: James Bidgood
Hardcover Published 25 March 2025 160 pages