Jim French was a prolific artist and photographer who created one of the most successful gay male erotica companies in the U.S.
French began his artistic career in the early 1960s as a traditional commercial artist. He worked for a New York Madison advertising agencies, creating illustrations for department stores like Neiman Marcus, he designed artwork for fabrics, and illustrated album art for Columbia Records with portraits of Johnny Cash, Barbra Streisand, and Johnny Mathis.
French was encouraged by a friend to start a business, selling photographic prints of the male erotic art he drew. He also began using a series of pseudonyms that reflected the style of the art. He used the name “Arion” for his unpublished fanciful art. Then began a mail order business, selling photographic prints of his hypermasculine drawing under the name of Kurt Lüger. Then in 1966 he bought out his then partner and created Colt Studios using the name Rip Colt.
Due to restrictions in sending sexually explicit material in the US Mail, the art sold by French was suggestive and erotic but contained minimal frontal nudity. French himself describe the situation in an interview in 2004:
“People today don’t realise what the climate was like in the late 60s. When I started Lüger, frontal nudity was considered obscene. Early photographers… were being prosecuted if their pictures showed a glimpse of pubic hair peeking over a posing strap. This was very, very restrictive.”
But as magazines like Playboy and Penthouse challenged the restrictions place on adult material, French moved into more explicit nudity in his work.
French’s enterprise includes selling individual prints, Colt Magazine, 8mm movies then tapes then DVDs, and art books.
Throughout his career French worked with over 830 male models - some of the most popular were John Pruitt, Rick Wolfmier, George O’Mara, Gordon Grant, Ken Ryker, and Drew Okun who French rechristened Al Parker.
French exhibited them as masculine icons - construction men, men in leather, surfers, cowboys, wrestlers, and sailors.
“Pornography does not interest me. Photography interests me. And making marvellous-looking men look their most impressive. That’s what I’ve always been about”
Many of his models transition to Gay Porn and had lucrative careers. French himself sold Colt Studios to the owners of Falcon in 2003. A decade later French retired to Palm Springs with his husband Jeffery Turner. French died at home at age 84 in 2017.
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