"...Emil Cadoo (1926-2002) was one of the defining photographers of the Swinging Sixties. His semi-storied career perfectly exemplifies that decade’s lust for change and its commitment to experimentation. Cadoo’s work ranged from high level photojournalism at Life magazine, to Beat generation portraiture, to artistically ambitious and sexually ambiguous erotica.
Born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, Cadoo emigrated to Paris in 1960 and essentially lived there until his death. Cadoo’s energy and personality put him at the center of the expatriate community and he encountered and photographed many of the most important artistic and literary lights of his time. Like his friend and subject James Baldwin, he found easier acceptance in Paris as an African-American and as a homosexual. Paris was also a congenial atmosphere for Cadoo’s interest in erotica. It was there that he created the work he is best known for: his book covers and portfolios for Barney Rosset’s Grove Press and Evergreen Review, which became a cause célèbre in the fight against artistic censorship..." [continue reading]
