© James Bidgood, “Sandcastle” (Bobby Kendall and Jay Garvin), early 1960s, Vintage C-print, Courtesy of ClampArt New York City
Tales from another time… In a new series, titled Illicit Histories, Miss Rosen tells the stories of queer art’s pioneers, unpacking the lives and work of people who revolutionised gay erotic imagery – often in defiance of censorship laws.
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Born during the worst of the Great Depression in 1933, American artist James Bidgood displayed his love for glamour, fantasy and spectacle from a young age. “He begged his mother to buy him a paper doll set,” says Lissa Rivera, curator of James Bidgood: Reveries, now on view at the Museum of Sex in New York. “Despite the restraints on their financial situation, his mother bought one for him. Using his imagination, he turned an old cereal box into a technicolour masterpiece befitting a Busby Berkeley musical for the dolls.”
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Now 86, Bidgood has forged a singular path throughout his life as a female impersonator, window dresser, fashion, costume, and graphic designer, photographer, stylist, and filmmaker. This remarkable career began when the young man from Wisconsin moved to New York in 1951 at the tender age of 18.
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Read the Full Story at AnOther Man
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© James Bidgood, “At Cave Opening, Sandcastles” (Bobby Kendall and Jay Garvin), early 1960s, Vintage C-print, Courtesy of ClampArt New York City
© James Bidgood, “Guitar, Sandcastles” (Bobby Kendall and Jay Garvin), early 1960s, Vintage C-print, Courtesy of ClampArt New York City