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Sunday, February 7, 2021

Les Demi Dieux - Ten Years of Beauty

Les Demi Dieux was the trade name used by brilliant photographer Danny Fitzgerald.  Active only from 1958 to 1968, Mr. Fitzgerald's work was ahead of its time, taking a more artistic approach to the male body than most of the physique photographers of the time.  When the courts legalized full frontal male nudity in the late 60s, he stopped publishing male nudes and disappeared from the scene.  Perhaps he thought his tasteful and beautifully composed works wouldn't sell in the wide open and often crass environment of the new era.  By the late 70s, however, artists such as Roy Blakey, Roy Dean, and others were successfully marketing photos similar to Les Demi Dieux.  We start with this beautiful shot of Billy Wright in an abandoned building where Danny photographed several other models. 

 

4 comments:

  1. What a beautiful man, captured in gorgeous soft light! Thank you for this post.

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    1. You're quite welcome, Tom. This was one of those times I really enjoyed putting the series together.

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  2. I think "demi deux" is wonderful play on latin but rendered in French it could refer to Castor and Pollux who were revered by Greeks and Romans. They were described by Dares Phrygius as "... blond haired, large eyed, fair complexioned, and well-built with trim bodies". And with Christianity they became St Cosmas and Damian.
    But it could also mean that the men photographed were more than men, they were half- gods. So how do you describe a divinity? I think the best description is in Virgil's Aeneid when he describes Venus walking on earth. Her feet do not touch the ground, but she floats as she walks and behind her is a fragrance of roses. He describes a sensory overload that plays on the mind, and I think Danny Fitzgerald was trying to convey that in his photographs.

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    1. I'll go with the second definition because I think that's what Mr. Fitzgerald set out to do.

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