Camera Club Girls: Bettie Page and the Work of Rudolph Rossi Vernacular Photography

CAMERA CLUB GIRLS: Bettie Page and the Work of Rudolph Rossi

These are cropped detail portions of the extraordinary hand-painted photographs of Rudolph Rossi. Rossi was an informal member of the New York City Concorde Camera Club in the repressive 1950's. For a ten dollar fee, he photographed Bettie Page and a plethora of interracial models, then later meticulously hand-painted the photographs creating the illusion of color photography. An exceptional body of work by a previously unknown and unrecognized photographer and erotic artist from a time when such activity was taboo. Bettie Page, who passed away last year, is the most famous and most recognizable pin-up model of all time. You'll have to trust the first image here is indeed Ms. Page. A new website publishes some of the photographs, hopefully the first step in generating interest in the previously unknown and unseen work. To see the original works, you will have to "click through" a mature audiences page. visit "CAMERA CLUB GIRLS"

Rudolph Rossi Original Hand-Painted Photographs (detail) c. 1950, Collection Jim Linderman