Gene Bilbrew

Eugene "Gene" Bilbrew (June 29, 1923 – May 1974) ^[6] was an African-American vocal group singer, cartoonist, and "bizarre art" pioneer. As noted in the biography, GENE BILBREW REVEALED: The Unsung Legacy of a Fetish Art Pioneer, he was "the first black career fetish artist in history."^[7] Starting in the mid-1950s, he was among the most prolific illustrators of fetish-oriented pulp book covers.^[8] In addition to signing his work under his own name, he produced art under a range of pseudonyms, including ENEG ("Gene" spelled backwards), Van Rod, and Bondy.^[9]

Early life[]

Born in Los Angeles in 1923, Bilbrew's first career was as a vocal group singer, performing with The Mellow Tones and the Basin Street Boys.^[10][11]

Art career[]

Starting in 1950, Bilbrew switched from singing to illustrative art. His first professional art job was for the hugely influential comics artist Will Eisner, on The Spirit,^[12] where Bilbrew took over the back-up series Clifford — a humor page for small children — after its originator Jules Feiffer was drafted into the army. Bilbrew's Clifford was syndicated as a weekly comic strip by General Features from 1951 to 1952.^[13] (Rumors that he illustrated or produced the storyline for a comic strip series named The Bronze Bomber have been debunked, nor is there any evidence that he contributed to the African-American newspaper, Los Angeles Sentinel).^[14]

The start of Bilbrew's "bizarre art" career came in 1951 through underground artist and pioneer Eric Stanton, whom Bilbrew met while attending Cartoonists and Illustrators School.^[15][16][17] From then on, Bilbrew focused on fetish art, producing work for notable underground publishers Irving Klaw, Edward Mishkin, Stanley Malkin, and the Sturman brothers.^[18] He also notably produced many illustrations and covers for Leonard Burtman, publisher of Exotique, a fetish magazine published between 1955 and 1959.^[19]

A forced feminization drawing from Women Bind and Dominate Male Maid by Bilbrew

Death[]

While his career waned with the coming of relaxed censorship laws of the 1960s, his substance abuse worsened in the early 1970s.^[11] According to Eric Stanton, Gene Bilbrew died in the back of a Times Square adult bookstore in May, 1974.^[11]

Other[]

In 2019 the National Leather Association International established an award named after Bilbrew for creators of animated erotic art.^[20]

See also[]

• Exotique (fetish magazine)
• Fetish art
• Fetish artist
• Charles Guyette
• Irving Klaw
• Bettie Page
• Eric Stanton
• John Willie

References[]

Further reading[]

• GENE BILBREW REVEALED: The Unsung Legacy of a Fetish Art Pioneer by Richard Pérez Seves. New York, Fethistory, 2019. ISBN 978-1072487548
• Eric Stanton & the History of the Bizarre Underground by Richard Pérez Seves. Atglen, Schiffer Publishing, 2018. ISBN 978-0764355424

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gene Bilbrew.

• Mitchell, Tony (2018). "Eric Stanton and the History of the Bizarre Underground". The Fetishistas. Archived from the original on December 5, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
• Material related to Bilbrew at the Internet Archive
• http://www.rebsart.com/Bios/bilbrew.asp
• http://fetish.pornparks.com/bilbrew/
• http://dulltooldimbulb.blogspot.com/2009/03/eugene-bilbrew-african-american-artist.html
• http://hyperallergic.com/172180/a-long-lost-artist-of-the-1950s-sexual-underground/
• https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/mar/04/cult-of-the-spankers-pulp-fiction-times-square-smut