Genius Week, Day 6 - Sansone and Townsend

Sometimes genius comes in pairs, such as Elton John/Bernie Taupin, F. Scott/Zelda Fitzgerald, and Steven Spielberg/John Williams.  When it comes to male nude photography, I hold that Tony Sansone and Edwin Townsend fall into that category.  About 85% of the extant photos of Mr. Sansone are by Mr. Townsend, and I somehow doubt that we would all be such ardent admirers of Tony Sansone if he had never been photographed by him.  Yes, he did some good work with Earle Forbes and even George Platt Lynes, but Townsend's work is the gold standard.  While he had dabbled in male nudes before encountering Tony Sansone, Townsend was best known for photographing Broadway theatrical types.  The two of them together are magic and immortal.