John Willie Portfolio

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From "A John Willie Portfolio - Volume 1"

Pat

If there was a superstar in John Willie's California studio, it was the brunette he called Pat (or, occasionally in letters, Patti) We mistakenly referred to her as "Dee" in a previous collection of J.W. material. Her strong features and lovely figure graced many of his most ambitious photo sequences, including two of his best known. "The Stolen Date" and "Discussions on Riding". She could effect that "lost" look that J.W. often exploited to great advantage, one that can be seen in some of the close ups from "The Stolen Date". It was no accident that, in pairing her up with models such as Judy and Jill, he usually cast Pat as the victim.

The photos on these pages (except for the portrait which was shot by a collector known as A. Manhattanite as part of a bondage photo session during a visit to Los Angeles, When J.W. hired the model and offered the use of his own apartment) are something of an anomaly. First they are nudes, a style which Willie almost never worked. Second, they are shot outdoors, an unusual practice for him in California. Finally they have a crude, unpolished look most uncharacteristic of a photographer who, as he once put it a customer, "never sent a thing out unless I knew it was right. Yet the rope work clearly bears his signature, and the work is almost certainly his. We can only guess as to the circumstances, but our assumption is that the "shoot" was commissioned by the owner of that garish swimming pool, who also dictated that he wanted the model in the "all together".

A Personal Note from Robin

By comparing the tiles in the photos from the Spider Pool photos with the tiles in the photos below, the "garish swimming pool" referred to is undeniably the "Spider Pool" owned Jack McDermott. The model in the pictures below is Patti Conley.

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