Bobby Kendall – { feuilleton }

The recurrent pose 27

Moss Roberts photographed by James Bidgood.

I missed this back in January, a great version of the Flandrin pose by James Bidgood, the justly-celebrated beefcake photographer and director of that micro-budget masterwork of gay erotica, Pink Narcissus (1971). The photo was part of a feature commissioned by Out.com which asked notable photographers to present a contemporary take on the Physique Pictorial style. Bidgood’s pictures strike me as the best of the bunch but then I’m biased, having recently bought Taschen’s republication of their splendid book of Bidgood photos from the 1960s. Luscious and kitsch, and—if you’re a fan of Bobby Kendall—highly recommended.

Via VMP.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The recurrent pose archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Let’s get physical: Bruce of Los Angeles and Tom of Finland
• The Male Gaze
• James Bidgood

Cocteau’s sword

Jean Cocteau looking nothing less than fabulous in what I guess is 1955 since the writer is sporting his Académie française medal, an award bestowed upon him that year. The ceremonial sword is his own design, needless to say, and the curiously-tinted photographs are by Frank Scherschel for LIFE. The colours and lavish decor—those metallic palm trees—aren’t so far removed from the photographs of James Bidgood although the milieu certainly is. I doubt Cocteau would mind who the photographer was if Bidgood’s favourite model, Bobby Kendall, was in the picture with him.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The men with swords archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Cristalophonics: searching for the Cocteau sound
• Cocteau at the Louvre des Antiquaires
• James Bidgood
• La Villa Santo Sospir by Jean Cocteau

James Bidgood

Bobby Looking Out Shuttered Window from Pink Narcissus, mid- to late 1960s.

Blue Boy from Pink Narcissus (Bobby Kendall), mid- to late 1960s.

James Bidgood’s deliriously rich photographs are currently on exhibition at Clampart in New York, and the show includes stills from his classic film Pink Narcissus. Bidgood discusses his work here. And for those of us not in NYC, there’s a Taschen collection available.

James Bidgood: Photographs from the 1960s
January 4th–February 17th, 2007
Clampart
521–531 West 25th Street
Ground Floor
New York City 10001

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Kenneth Anger on DVD…finally
• Un Chant d’Amour by Jean Genet