AFTER DARK/AUGUST 2026
Thu, Aug 20, 2026 07:00PM EDT
Lot 44
Fred Bisonnes (Dennis Forbes) (American, b. 1940)
Estimate: $400 - $600
Bid Increments
| Price | Bid Increment |
|---|---|
| $0 | $10 |
| $100 | $25 |
| $500 | $50 |
| $1,000 | $100 |
| $2,500 | $250 |
| $5,000 | $500 |
| $10,000 | $1,000 |
| $25,000 | $2,500 |
| $50,000 | $5,000 |
| $100,000 | $10,000 |
Hoods, 1979.
Graphite on paper, mounted on board.
Signed and dated in graphite on the bottom right, "D. Forbes 79"; Series annotated in graphite on the verso, "Hanging Out #1".
An original graphite illustration created for publication in the homoerotic publication Chevron (Issue No. 2, 1979), published by Western Man.
Paper: 12 x 18 in. (30.5 x 45.6 cm.)
Board: 13 1/4 x 19 5/16 in. (33.6 x 49 cm.)
Literature (Illustrated):
Bisonnes, Fred. Bare Essentials: Memoir of Homoeroticist Fred Bisonnes: Book 2: The Gallery. Dancing Faun Publishing, 2021. Illustrated.
Bisonnes, Fred. Blue. Dancing Faun Publishing, 2011. pp. 48-49, illustrated.
Chevron. Issue No. 2. Western Man; Rosslyn Press, 1979. Illustrated.
Notes:
Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Dennis Forbes relocated to San Francisco in 1972, where he worked as a freelance ghost writer, graphic designer, and photographer, in 1974 becoming art director for Vector (monthly newsstand publication of the Society for Individual Rights); and 1975-1976 as art director of The Advocate, guiding its evolution from a Los Angeles bar newspaper to a biweekly tabloid-format national gay-news magazine. In that capacity he contributed numerous photos and illustrations, including montages and pencil and ink renderings, especially caricatures of gay personalities both historical and contemporary.
Following a stint as the production-stills photographer for Falcon Studios (and designer of its print advertising and brochures), Forbes launched a series of unique magazine-format picture publications featuring combinations of his male-nude photography, homoerotic illustrations, and short erotic fiction. With the colophons Western Man and Lobo, these were printed and distributed by Le Salon, also based in San Francisco.
In 1984, Liberation Publications Inc. (LPI, parent company of The Advocate) commissioned Forbes to singlehandedly create the monthly gay newsstand/subscription magazine Advocate Men. Using the anagram Fred Bisonnes, he served as its staff photographer until 1989; and during those five years he photographed scores of male models, as well as produced numerous illustrations in different styles and mediums, including caricatures of gay pornstars to accompany video reviews.
He lives today on a wooded mountainside nearby Asheville, NC, and continues writing gay-themed fiction as Fred Bisonnes and creating montage and assemblage art.
Condition
Nothing adverse to note.
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