BUNNY

XXX B U N N Y

BUNNY YEAGER

A Woman Ahead of Her Time

BETTIE PAGE Dream Subject

Irving Klaw Rough Play

MODEL AND PHOTOGRAPHER A Life’s Work

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Prices are in Canadian dollars. Price list can be found at the end of the catalogue. All items are subject to prior sale.

Canadian customers will be charged 13% HST where applicable.

All photographs are vintage prints, unless otherwise stated. Where applicable all reproduction rights are expressly reserved by the artist’s estate. Permission for reproduction must be obtained in writing from the artist’s estate.

Photographic prints may not be exactly as they appear in the digital or print format catalogues. Full scans available upon request. In the dimensions listed, height precedes width. The date, where possible, refers to the negative date.

Where unknown, titles are supplied.

Customers new to us are requested to send payment in advance. Institutional billing requirements will be accommodated. All items are guaranteed as catalogued. If not satisfied, returns will be accepted within 10 days of receipt. Advance notification is requested.

We accept Canadian or U.S. dollar cheques, international money orders, and wire transfers. All items will be shipped surface unless advised otherwise. All packing, shipping, and insurance costs are the responsibility of the purchaser.

This catalogue is available online at www.rarephotogallery.com.

Please contact us by telephone: 416-535-9895 or email: rarephotoltd@gmail.com.

We welcome visitors by appointment. We are always interested in purchasing individual items and collections.

41 Spadina Road, Suite One Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5R 2S9 Direction: Neil David MacDonald Design: sol Legault All rights reserved. Not intended for reproduction. ©2014

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BUNNY YEAGER A Woman Ahead of Her Time First model, later photographer, by 1954 Bunny Yeager (1929–2014) was one of the most photographed models in Florida. It was at that time that she decided to learn the trade herself, stepping behind the camera and making the move toward a prolific career in the pinup business, on the other side of the lens. In the 1950s and ‘60s Yeager’s name became synonymous with ‘cheesecake’ erotic photography.

Although her most noted work was some of her earliest, photographing Bettie Page primarily in the first year of her career (with over 1000 photographs taken of Page in 1954 alone), Yeager went on to work for Playboy and numerous big-name mainstream publications. She is credited with Page’s popularity, but also continued to photograph herself and other top models of the day. Although her work was never explicit in the way commonly seen today, Yeager’s playfully sexualized images were undoubtedly scandalous in their time, and continue to titillate in the present. The photographs offered here are testament to the quality of Yeager’s craft, and to the uniqueness of her vision. A trendsetter in the male-dominated field of erotic photography, her influence is still felt today, by contemporary artists and commercial photographers alike.

The Prints We are fortunate to be able to offer a select group of original photographs by Bunny Yeager. All the material offered in this catalogue was acquired directly from Yeager in Miami a few years ago, and are guaranteed original prints or artifacts from her archive and studio. Yeager personalized each item by signing it at the time of acquisition. These are not limited edition or posthumous prints. The large hand-coloured exhibition print is one of only a few in existence in this format, each image created only as a single print. Like Cindy Sherman, Yeager has an entire body of self portrait work, staged and costumed, that could be examined conceptually, and that poses challenges and questions in Yeager’s own way. Take this unique opportunity to own not only a fun work of art, but also a primary object of twentieth century pop culture history!

BETTIE PAGE Bettie Page (1923–2008) was one of Bunny Yeager’s most frequently photographed subjects between 1954 and 1957, establishing their working friendship during Page’s early (and brief) career. Her trendsetting pinup look, with the trademark hairstyle, along with her playful sexual attitude made Page an ideal model for the type of evocative erotica that Yeager knew would play to her public’s desires and leave them wanting more.

The innocence of erotic photographs of Page, even those involving simulated pain, torture, bondage, and power play, is charming today in the age of show-it-all internet pornography. In these cheesecake images, Page is always smiling or making faces, having fun, teasing the viewer, and never “giving everything away.” This is the key to their ongoing popularity and the cult following that continues seventy years after their making. The wonderful photographs shown here, most autographed, are vintage prints obtained directly from Yeager. Many of these are contact prints from the original negatives, bringing us tangibly closer to both Bettie and Bunny and to the playful process they shared.

1e (detail)

1a

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(1c verso)

1 Bettie Page

A Day at the Carnival

c. 1955 six gelatin silver contact prints each signed each approx. 6 x 6 cm sold individually

1f

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2 Bettie Page

A Day at the Carnival

c. 1955 unique framed vintage hand-coloured gelatin silver print with original gelatin silver contact print, signed framed print: frame 70 x 59.7 cm; visible print area 50 x 39.3 cm contact print: 6 x 6.2 cm sold together

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3 Bettie Page Fun in the Sand

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3h

c. 1955 eight gelatin silver contact prints each signed each approx. 6 x 6 cm sold individually

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see pages 7-8 for enlarged views of select items

3c (enlarged view)

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opposite

Bettie Page

Fun in the Sand c. 1955

gelatin silver enlargement signed print 25.1 x 20.2 cm

3d (enlarged view)

3f (enlarged view)

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5 Bettie Page Domestic Views

c. 1955 three gelatin silver contact prints each signed each approx. 6 x 6 cm sold individually

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6 Bettie Page at Home

c. 1955 Presenting Bettie Page At Home, No. 5 photographically illustrated booklet; 32 pages of fullbleed illustrations 21.3 x 13.6 x 0.2 cm

7 Bettie Page with Leopard Cub

c. 1955 gelatin silver print, signed 27.6 x 35.2 cm

From the shoot that produced the January 1955 Playboy centerfold image

8 Bettie Page

with Christmas Tree c. 1955

gelatin silver contact print, signed approx. 6 x 6 cm

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9 Bettie Page with Candle c. 1955 gelatin silver contact print, signed approx. 6 x 6 cm

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10 Bettie Page

featured in Bunny Yeager’s Foto File No. 1

1995 mail-order catalogue of photographs; signed 27.5 x 21.4 x 0.3 cm 50 pages An important part of Yeager’s business, even into the 1990s, was the mailorder service made available via print catalogues. Like Irving Klaw’s, Yeager’s catalogues provided the array from which avid viewers could select their favourite images to be printed at the scale of their choosing. Bunny Yeager’s Foto File issue #1 (1995) was dedicated to photographs of Bettie Page shot in 1954–55, another testament to these images’ continuing popularity.

The contents of this rare signed copy and its cover feature images from the striking shoot involving live cheetahs. Issue #4 follows on page 24, exclusively featuring photographs of Bunny herself.

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Irving Klaw While Bunny Yeager produced relatively tame erotic photographs showing the nude female body but never any sexual acts, Irving Klaw played to an audience with more risqué desires. His famously explicit images, depicting sadomasochistic play between Bettie Page and other models, pushed the boundaries of the sexual mores of the day and ventured into an overtly sexualized realm that Bunny Yeager was never comfortable broaching. The viewer-compiled photographic album shown here contains 16 of Klaw’s S/M photographs of Page and associates, representing the format in which likely many collectors of Klaw’s popular mail-order photographs would have viewed them.

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11 Irving Klaw

Bettie Page

Rough Play Collection c. 1955 album containing 16 photographs album 22.3 x 31.6 x 0.9 cm prints each approx. 13 x 10 cm

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Bunny Yeager

How I Photograph Nudes New York: A.S. Barnes [et al], 1963

28.6 x 22 x 1.7 cm 144 pages, over 100 illustrations

MODEL AND PHOTOGRAPHER Bunny Yeager was an invested and hardworking photographer, her love of the medium leading her to want to share the fruits of her labours, keen to help amateurs with the same passion to succeed in her chosen craft, as she had. In this vein, she produced several books based on her life’s work, the two most notable examples of which are shown here. These volumes outline the photographic process and the technical and visual requirements for making successful, expressive portraits, with such chapter titles as: “Glamour Costumes,” “Facial Expression,” “Using Props,” and “Painting with Lights and Shadows,” etc. These profusely illustrated how-to manuals, by one of the most important names in popular photography of the 20th century, are truly collector’s items.

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opposite

Bunny Yeager

How I Photograph Myself New York: A.S. Barnes [et al], 1964

28.4 x 22.2 x 1.7 cm 157 pages, over 100 illustrations

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23

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opposite

Bunny Yeager

Self Portrait with Camera and Mirror

c. 1960 gelatin silver print, signed 25.3 x 20.6 cm

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Bunny Yeager

Bunny Yeager’s Foto File No. 4

1995 mail-order catalogue of photographs; signed 27.7 x 21.3 x 0.3 cm 50 pages

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opposite

Bunny Yeager with Camera, Model, and Mirror

c. 1960 gelatin silver print mounted, signed print 25.2 x 20.3 cm mount 26.7 x 22 cm

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Bunny Yeager in Rogue

May, 1958 periodical featuring Bunny Yeager photograph of Maria Stinger on cover signed, with Yeager inscription in interior 27.5 x 21.2 x 0.4 cm 82 pages; damage to back cover

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PRICE LIST

3a 3b 3c 3d 3e 3f 3g 3h 4 5a 5b 5c 6 7 8 9 10

Bettie Page - A Day at the Carnival - contact print Bettie Page - A Day at the Carnival - contact print Bettie Page - A Day at the Carnival - contact print Bettie Page - A Day at the Carnival - contact print Bettie Page - A Day at the Carnival - contact print Bettie Page - A Day at the Carnival - contact print Bettie Page - A Day at the Carnival - contact print and coloured enlargement Bettie Page - Fun in the Sand - contact print Bettie Page - Fun in the Sand - contact print Bettie Page - Fun in the Sand - contact print Bettie Page - Fun in the Sand - contact print Bettie Page - Fun in the Sand - contact print Bettie Page - Fun in the Sand - contact print Bettie Page - Fun in the Sand - contact print Bettie Page - Fun in the Sand - contact print Bettie Page - Fun in the Sand - enlargement Bettie Page - Domestic Views - contact print Bettie Page - Domestic Views - contact print Bettie Page - Domestic Views - contact print Bettie Page at Home - printed booklet Bettie Page - with Leopard Cub - enlargement Bettie Page - with Christmas Tree - contact print Bettie Page - with candle - contact print Bettie Page - in Bunny Yeager’s Foto File No. 1 - catalogue

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Irving Klaw - Bettie Page - album of “rough play” photographs

900$

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How I Photograph Nudes - book How I Photograph Myself - book Bunny Yeager - in Bunny Yeager’s Foto File No. 4 - catalogue Bunny Yeager - self portrait with camera and mirror - enlargement Bunny Yeager - self portrait with camera, model and mirror - enlargement Bunny Yeager - in Rogue, May 1958 - magazine

150$ 150$ 150$ 750$ 750$

1a 1b 1c 1d 1e 1f 2

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framed framed framed framed framed framed each framed

400$ 400$ 400$ 400$ 400$ 400$ 5000$

framed framed framed framed framed framed framed framed matted framed framed framed

400$ 400$ 400$ 400$ 400$ 400$ 400$ 400$ 450$ 450$ 450$ 450$ 100$ 400$ 450$ 450$ 150$

matted framed framed

matted matted

150$

Works Referenced Hellmann, Harald

Betty Page: Queen of Pin-Up Cologne: Taschen, 1993 Yeager, Bunny

Betty Page Confidential

New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994 Yeager, Bunny

How I Photograph Myself

New York: A.S. Barnes [et al], 1964 Yeager, Bunny

How I Photograph the Nude

RARE PHOTO GALLERY

Bunny Yeager Photography

www.rarephotogallery.com

New York: A.S. Barnes [et al], 1963

“About [Bunny Yeager]”

http://www.bunnyyeager.net/#!about/c1wbx (Accessed June 24, 2014)

2014