Douglas of Detroit

Douglas Juleff

Douglas was a nationally known and highly respected photographer from the late 1940s until the late 1950s. He is considered to be one of the finest printers and innovators of male figurative photography in the world. His prints are highly valued and collected, known for their delicately rich dark tones and superb lighting. In the late 1950s, the photographer was involved in a famous censorship battle held in Detroit that destroyed his career and the lives of many of his models. The Detroit police ransacked his house, confiscating and burning almost all of the photographer’s negatives and prints. The incident left Douglas in shambles and he never fully recovered. In the 1950s images of the male nude were banned under the law. Douglas was one of many casualties suffered by artists under a deranged and backwards justice system.

Douglas was born Douglas Juleff, in Detroit, 1919. After serving in the armed forces he took up photography specializing in the male figure. His work was published in dozens of fitness and bodybuilding magazines of the time. He kept correspondant with many artists around the world and collected and traded works of the male nude. His knowledge of photography was expansive. Douglas spent his entire life in Detroit and died in 1999.

The male nude has been a highly volitile and suppressed artform, especially during the first fifty years of the twentieth century. Douglas was one of a few masters of this genre.