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An exploration of 20 photographers, from the 19th century to the present, who
explore liberation and transgression.
 05/20/2016 11:30 am ET
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Priscilla Frank 
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Arts Writer, The Huffington Post
Warning: This article contains nudity and may not be appropriate for work environments.
CHRISTER STROMHOLM, SABRINA, C. 1960, COURTESY DANIEL COONEY FINE ART
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A photographer by the name of E.J. Bellocq was born in New Orleans in August 1873 to an
aristocratic family. He was born with a condition similar to artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, which
left Bellocq with a stunted, misshapen physique and a forehead that came to a point. His affliction
cast him as an outsider, and as such, fellow outsiders welcomed him into their circles.
Although he made his living as a commercial photographer, snapping photos of ships and
machinery, Bellocq would make frequent, furtive trips to New Orleans’ red-light district, called
Storyville. There, he took countless portraits of sex workers in their homes or the brothels at
which they worked.
Bellocq’s photos are exceptional in that they depict their subjects not as one-dimensional pinups
or targets for the male gaze, but as real people on the job. Some women are fully dressed,
lounging in their homes, tinkering with their things, playing with a pet. Others are nude, but, even
when reclining on a bed, their faces reveal the artifice of the pose, as if the subject and viewer
are together laughing at the silliness of the gesture.
E.J. BELLOCQ, DANIEL COONEY FINE ART
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In 1949, at 76 years old, Bellocq fell down some stairs and hit his head, only to die a few days
later. His brother found the photo negatives in his apartment and sold them to a junk shop.
Around 20 years later they were discovered by a fellow photographer who realized their value.
Bellocq was not the first photographer to document the world of prostitution so often kept hidden
from public view. And he is certainly not the last. An exhibition titled “Scarlet Muse” at Daniel
Cooney Fine Art will examine the work of 20 photographers from the 19th century to the present,
tracing the storied and complex relationship between photography and prostitution.
The alliance between sex work and photography has been convoluted from the start, teetering
back and forth between empowering and exploitative, empathetic and objectifying. The images in
Cooney’s exhibition aren’t just revealing in their exposure of flesh, they lay bare the taboo subject
matters so often kept of of sight, offering the beauty and the ugliness without apology.
AUGUST BRAQUEHAIS, FEMALE NUDE WITH WHITE LEGGINGS AND FINGER TO MOUTH,
C.1850, COURTESY DANIEL COONEY FINE ART
The journey began with a daguerrotype dating back to the 1850s. The image, by August
Braquehais, depicts a dark-haired young woman in a white gown and stockings, her legs spread
to reveal a darkness between her limbs. She grazes her lips with her finger while gazing intently
at the viewer. Whether she’s attempting to seduce the photographer or warn him to remain silent,
the gesture seems more illicit than the nudity.
As time went on, daguerrotypes gave way to black-and-white film, which later made room for
color. The subjects shift as well, from old-school courtesans to mid-century transgender
bohemians in Paris to the prostitutes on the forefront of San Francisco’s gay liberation
movement. Aside from just sharing the stories of their subjects, the images together form a larger
narrative of sexual identity, liberation and transgression.
In the 1940s and beyond, Bob Mizer, a pioneer of homoerotic photography, snapped deliciously
kitschy photographs of scantily clad hunks, subverting the tropes of pinup culture with a man as
the object of desire. In the ‘90s, artist Philip-Lorca diCorcia embarked on a conceptual series
titled “Hustlers,” in which he picked up male prostitutes in Hollywood to take their picture,
compensating them with their working rate.
SCOT SOTHERN, WEEGEE, C.1980, COURTESY DANIEL COONEY FINE ART
One of the more recent photographers represented in the exhibition is Scot Sothern, who
chronicled the sex workers walking the streets of Los Angeles in the 1970s and ‘80s. The blackand-white photos depict the sordid underbelly of LA nightlife, mixed with Sothern’s genuine
fascination, concern and, yes, sometimes arousal.
“I’d like to think I’ve made pictures that evoke empathy,” Sothern said in an earlier interview with
The Huffington Post. “Much of it is exploitation and I can’t claim I’ve made anyone’s life better by
taking their picture, but, you know, I [want] people to see the wrongs they would otherwise turn
their backs to. I think art is best used when it’s subversive and I’ve always had kind of a fuck-you
attitude.”
Sothern’s comment illuminates a connection with Bellocq’s work, in that the types of artists often
drawn toward subject matter on the margins of society feel similarly outside of norms
themselves. Although the subjects’ bodies are in full view, the photographers’ visions are equally
laid bare. As Sothern said: “If I’m doing it right, every picture is a selfie. If you look at one of my
pictures and you feel it in your gut then you are going to think about it as well, and you can’t do
that without making some kind of judgement on the guy who snapped the shutter. I think I’m right
there naked to the world in every shot.”
Maybe you buy it, maybe you don’t, but surely there’s some invisible thread that has kept
photographers enamored with the oldest profession for so many centuries. Whether pure
fascination, an obsession with defiance, camaraderie, compassion, or corrupt curiosity, we may
never be certain.
“Scarlet Muse” will run from June 9 to July 22, 2016 at Daniel Cooney Fine Art in New York.
19 33
Brassai, La fille de Joie au Billard Russe [Prostitute Playing Russian Billiards, Boulevard Rochechouart], 1933, Courtesy Daniel Cooney Fine Art
19 6 1
Christer Stromholm, Cobra and Caprice, 1961, Courtesy Daniel Cooney Fine Art
19 70 s
Bob Mizer, John Apache, c. 1970s, Courtesy Daniel Cooney Fine Art
19 70
Anthony Friedkin, Dan, Hustler, Burbank, 1970, Courtesy Daniel Cooney Fine Art
19 70 s
Danny Fields, “Richie in Shower”, c.1970s, Courtesy Daniel Cooney Fine Art
19 70 s
Bob Mizer, Gerald Oglesby, c.1970s, Courtesy Daniel Cooney Fine Art
19 9 0 -19 9 2
Philip-Lorca diCorcia, David Theodore Lane, 27 years old, Tucson, Arizona, $30, 1990-92, Courtesy Daniel Cooney Fine Art
20 0 8 -20 13
Malerie Marder, #1 from the Anatomy Series, 2008-2013, Courtesy Daniel Cooney Fine Art
20 11
Chris Arnade, Untitled, c. 2011, Courtesy Daniel Cooney Fine Art
20 11
Jane Hilton, Juniper, c. 2011, Courtesy Daniel Cooney Fine Art
20 11
Chris Arnade, Untitled, c. 2011, Courtesy Daniel Cooney Fine Art
20 12
George Awde, Yasser Sleeping, c. 2012, Courtesy Daniel Cooney Fine Art
Also on HuffPost
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More:
E.J. Bellocq
Scarlet Muse
Art Hi st o ry ’s M o st E ro t i c Art w o …
Daniel Cooney Fine Art
Photography
Prostitution
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Manny Tentoes
A man who follows his camera may explore subjects otherwise unseen by the general run of
society, to reveal them in their own dimension, to inform us. Here we have one example of this
adventure in photography. We must rest our gaze on its expression.
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1 · May 20, 2016 9:48pm
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