Bruce Davidson

Brooklyn Gang Kathy fixing her hair in a cigarette machine mirror, Coney Island

1959

signed and numbered in pencil on verso

signed and numbered in pencil on verso

11 x 14" vintage silver gelatin photograph, signed by Jack Mitchell. Comes directly from the Jack Mitchell Archives with a certificate of authenticity. This photograph was from a session for After Dark magazine and was selected and signed by Jack Mitchell as one of his favorites. Jack’s artist statement on his work for the magazine: “After Dark was a magazine of entertainment, theater and the arts. It was a popular magazine, with a gay slant, enjoyed by many gay men, and some broad minded women and men. As well as (I learned years later) many closeted male youngsters. The magazine was ahead of its time, as advertisers were reluctant to place ads in an essentially gay magazine at that time. Today they swarm like bees to place their own hot ads in gay publications. I had been photographing on assignment for Dance Magazine well before After Dark was created. Being a friend of William (Bill) Como, the Editor, and being gay, I was called into service, for the life of the publication, to photograph many of the handsome young men and women, who were featured in After Dark. Needless to say, this was enjoyable work for me, Because, mixed in with the hot-looking young guys and gals sent to my studio were some famed performers like Debbie Reynolds, Giancarlo Giannini, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Natalie Wood, Placido Domingo, Sergio Franco...

Manuel Drown c. 1940s Titled in pencil verso Vintage gelatin silver print 5 x 4 inches