Francesco Scavullo, Joe Dallesandro with a small child, 19.25 x 13.25 in Rare photo from Scavullo’s New York studio. 1968. Photo mounted on board. Exceedingly rare image from the series of photos by Scavullo featuring Joe Dallesandro and child. An image from this series was used to promote Morrisey/Warhol’s film in West Germany and France in late 1969-1970.

Conceived by Andy Warhol and young filmmaker Paul Morrissey while Warhol was recovering from gunshot wounds, Flesh was the first of Warhol's experimental and avant-garde films to become a commercial success. Directed by Morrissey and starring Joe Dallesandro as a hustler working on the streets of New York City to support his heroin addiction, the film featured various Warhol Superstars including the debut of trans icon Candy Darling. The first of Warhol's Paul Morrissey Trilogy, Flesh, along with Trash and Heat, have gained a cult following, offering a glimpse into the ideology of the late sixties.

Provenance: from archive of William Como, editor for After Dark magazine. After Dark was an essential source on dance, theater, performance art, ballet, and cinema of the late 60 and 1970s.

Francesco Scavullo (1921-2004) was an American fashion photographer known for his celebrity portraits and magazine covers. He is perhaps best known for his controversial photos of Joe Dallesandro, Brooke Shields and his support of the model Gia Carangi. Born on January 16, 1921 in Staten Island, NY, he began photographing from a young age and started his career immediately after graduating high school in 1945. Working as Horst P. Horst’s assistant for three years, Scavullo had his own photography studio by 1948. Over the course of his long career, the artist produced images for Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Seventeen, Harper’s Bazaar, Newsweek, Time, Life, Glamour, Town and Country and Rolling Stone. He died on January 6, 2004 in New York, NY. Today, Scavullo’s works are held in the collections of the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, among others.