• Log in
    PoliticsBusinessA&ETransgenderBisexualityReligionFamiliesVoicesVideo
    OUTPrideOut TravelerPLUSADVOCATE CHANNEL
    SubscribeSubscriber ServicesEmail Newsletter Signup
    CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
    © 2023 Pride Publishing Inc.
    All Rights reserved
    Advocate.comAdvocate.com
    Scroll To Top

    By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.

    Accept

    15 Divine Erotic Fantasies by James Bidgood

    Advocate.com Editors
    | 03/28/19

    15 Divine Erotic Fantasies by James Bidgood

    James Bidgood's divine erotic fantasies displayed at the Museum of Sex, March – September 2019

    James Bidgood

    James Bidgood was born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1933, at the height of the Depression. From the time of his arrival in New York at 18 years old, he immersed himself in the underground worlds of drag, hustling, and pornography. In the 1950s, Bidgood was a drag queen and set and lighting designer at the legendary New York nightclub Club 82. He attended Parsons School of Design, and went on to design elaborate costumes for society balls, among other jobs that would come to inform his art. In the 1960s, he turned his attention to "physique photography," the highly-coded gay pornography of the time, where he found creative freedom, an eager audience, and his own groundbreaking artistic voice. Bidgood was proudly and uncompromisingly "out" during a pre-Stonewall moment when rapid social change around gender roles and sexuality coexisted with widespread hostility and discrimination against homosexuality. His work stands as a crucial link in the history of queer art and cinema, as historically important as it is visually ravishing.

    Visit the Museum of Sex for more information.

    Harem Boy in front of Peacock, Mid-to-late 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Harem Boy in front of Peacock, Mid-to-late 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Bidgood's photography came at a unique moment in the history of pornography, as a series of court cases slowly relaxed government censorship. It remained illegal to show full-frontal nudity, and publications like Muscleboy and The Young Physique used the guise of health and fitness as a pretext for erotic photography of men. This world of double meaning and symbolism fit Bidgood's sensibility perfectly. Inspired by the pulp aesthetic of girlie shows and magazines and the glamorous spectacle of Broadway and Hollywood revues, Bidgood cast young men in place of clean-cut Hollywood starlets, making them every bit as glamorous and elevated, and staging extravaganzas fit for Esther Williams in his apartment.

    Huck Finn, Mid-1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Huck Finn, Mid-1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Extraordinarily, almost the entirety of Bidgood's work was shot in his tiny Hell's Kitchen tenement. Bidgood literally lived in his sets, and used colored lighting, homemade props, and a variety of clever illusions--from the ingenious use of forced perspective to complex, Rube Goldberg like mechanisms that operated moving sets, fans, or lights -- to create impressionistic wonderlands. The culmination of this work was Pink Narcissus, a dreamily erotic feature-length film depicting the allegorical fantasies of a gay prostitute, and shot almost entirely in the same apartment. Upon its release in 1971, Pink Narcissus was an immediate underground hit, but due to creative disagreements between Bidgood and the film's producer, Bidgood took his name off the credits, and the film was released anonymously. While rumors flew that the film had been made by a major, presumably closeted Hollywood celebrity, Bidgood remained in obscurity.

    At Cave Opening, Sand Castle, Early 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    At Cave Opening, Sand Castle, Early 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Since his rediscovery in the 1990s, Bidgood's work, made for the worlds of mail-order pornography and midnight cinema, has been exhibited in such prestigious venues as The National Portrait Gallery, The Brooklyn Museum, and the Musee d'Orsay, and is included in vaunted collections such as the Tate Modern, London and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Alongside Bidgood's remarkable photographs, this exhibition brings together a variety of ephemera from his extraordinary life, from vintage physique magazines, showing the original context of the work, to vintage photos from Bidgood's time as drag queen Terry Howe at Club 82 -- all evidence of an extraordinary, productive, and utterly uncompromising life.

    Blue Boy, Mid 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Blue Boy, Mid 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Bullfighter, Mid-to-late 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Bullfighter, Mid-to-late 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Valentine, mid-1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Valentine, mid-1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Biker, Mid 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Biker, Mid 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Double Image, Test Shots, early 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Double Image, Test Shots, early 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Leaning Against Urinal, Mid-to-late 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Leaning Against Urinal, Mid-to-late 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York
    12-bidgood_smoking-976x980

    Pan, Late 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Pan, Late 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Taunting Bull, Mid 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Taunting Bull, Mid 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Trunk, Water Colors, Early 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Trunk, Water Colors, Early 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Bobby Kendall Seated in Chair Holding Phone, Mid 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Bobby Kendall Seated in Chair Holding Phone, Mid 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Setting Down White Boot, First Cover, Early 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Setting Down White Boot, First Cover, Early 1960s Digital C-Print Courtesy of ClampArt, New York

    Latest Stories

    15 Steamy Photos from the 'True Colors' Pride Series by Kuros
    Photography
    Badge
    gallery

    15 Steamy Photos from the 'True Colors' Pride Series by Kuros

    June 03 2023 10:00 PM
    Temptation Sunday
    Photography
    Badge
    gallery

    47 Photos of Temptation Sundays Summer Launch in Las Vegas

    June 03 2023 6:58 PM
    17 Photos of the Trans Experience by Mariette Pathy Allen
    Art
    Badge
    gallery

    17 Photos of the Trans Experience by Mariette Pathy Allen

    June 03 2023 3:35 PM
    ONE Archives
    Pride
    Badge
    gallery

    13 Vintage Photos of Los Angeles's Queer Pride from ONE Archives

    June 02 2023 5:05 PM
    Shows to watch in June
    Arts & Entertainment
    Badge
    gallery

    15 LGBTQ+ TV Shows and Movies to Watch in June

    June 02 2023 4:31 PM
    Christopher Briney and Gavin Casalegno
    television
    Badge
    gallery

    9 First-Look Photos of 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' Season 2

    June 01 2023 7:00 PM
    Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey’s Gay Romance 'Fellow Travelers' Gets Teaser
    television
    Badge
    gallery

    Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey’s Gay Romance 'Fellow Travelers' Gets Teaser

    June 01 2023 5:00 PM
    LGBTQ Pride Flags
    Pride
    Badge
    gallery

    36 Queer Pride Flags You Should Know

    June 01 2023 4:01 PM
    Ayo Edebiri, Sofia Coppola, and Julio Torres
    film
    Badge
    gallery

    NewFest Pride Reveals Lineup for its 3rd Annual Summer Film Series

    June 01 2023 2:30 PM
    Tan and Rob France
    People
    Badge
    gallery

    Queer Eye’s Tan France Welcomes Baby Number 2 With Husband Rob

    May 31 2023 2:00 PM
    60 Photos of Your Favorite Celebs Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth at GLSEN Respect Awards
    Activism
    Badge
    gallery

    60 Photos of Your Favorite Celebs Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth at GLSEN Respect Awards

    May 31 2023 10:05 AM
    Girls Like Girls, Stars Collide, and Leg book covers
    Books
    Badge
    gallery

    13 LGBTQ+ Books to Read and Enjoy Before Spring Is Over

    May 30 2023 11:00 AM
    Joe Locke and Kit Connor from Heartstopper
    television
    Badge
    gallery

    5 First Look Photos from 'Heartstopper' Season 2

    May 30 2023 8:00 AM
    Nico Tortorella, Janelle Monáe, and Brandon Urie
    Pansexual
    Badge
    gallery

    12 Pan Icons to Celebrate Pansexual Visibility Day

    May 24 2023 7:17 PM
    'Red, White, and Royal Blue,' the Gay R-Rated Rom-Com, Debuts Key Art
    film
    Badge
    gallery

    'Red, White, and Royal Blue,' the Gay R-Rated Rom-Com, Debuts Key Art

    May 24 2023 11:06 AM
    Jake Daniels
    People
    Badge
    gallery

    Gay Soccer Star Jake Daniels, 18, Shares About His Partner, 46

    May 22 2023 1:35 PM
    5 Victims of Club Q Shooting Remembered
    Crime
    Badge
    gallery

    5 Victims of Club Q Shooting Remembered

    May 19 2023 10:03 PM
    30+ Images Celebrating Out Magazine's Kim Petras Pride Cover Drop
    Slideshow
    Badge
    gallery

    30+ Images Celebrating Out Magazine's Kim Petras Pride Cover Drop

    May 19 2023 4:45 PM
    Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
    Activism
    Badge
    gallery

    Meet the L.A. Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

    May 19 2023 4:30 PM
    Honorees at the GLAAD Media Awards in NYC
    Media
    Badge
    gallery

    69 Photos Celebrating the Star-Studded GLAAD Media Awards in NYC

    May 18 2023 11:19 AM