DANNY FITZGERALD & LES DEMI DIEUX – BROOKLYN BOYS
2013-12-23Throughout the 1960s, from his home in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, Danny Fitzgerald (1921-2000) operated a studio under the name Les Demi Dieux with his partner and chief model Richard Bennett. Fitzgerald considered his models “demi-gods”: sublime, muscled beauties on the streets of Brooklyn, beaches of New Jersey, and woods of Pennsylvania. In the flesh, the Brooklyn boys were members of street gangs: greasers smoldering with bravado and swagger. They play cards, smoke cigarettes, and slouch against their Buicks. Occasionally they were photographed in Fitzgerald’s studio, where he shot elegant, sensual nudes. The Brooklyn boys exist on a cusp between innocence and street savvy, boyhood and manhood, mortality and eternity. In a style redolent with both classicism and realism, Fitzgerald’s gritty yet gorgeous nudes surpass the clichés of standard “beefcake” photography.
Fitzgerald began photographing the young men he met at Abe Goldberg’s gym on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The models were working-class men 20 years his junior, from neighborhoods and families similar to his own. Later, he and Bennett recruited their subjects on the streets of Brooklyn using Bennett’s gregarious personality and bodybuilder physique as bait. Fitzgerald’s knowledge of art and culture and unwavering encouragement of physical beauty sealed the deal.
Exhibition runs through to January 18th, 2014
Steven Kasher Gallery
521 West 23rd Street
New York
NY
10011
