This Rare Authentic photograph by Notorious Photographer Irving Klaw was originally purchased by Kult Epics from Paula Klaw in 1991, when they purchased the rights for the film “The Exotic Dances of Bettie Page.

This black and white photograph of Betty Page was printed from the original Irving Klaw negatives. The collection of 1500 different 4”x5” photographs were thought to be voluntarily destroyed by Klaw due to the 1957 Senatorial Hearings seeking to ban his material, labeling it as “Indecent” in an effort to shit down his popular International Mail-Order

Because of the political and social pressure he faced, Klaw eventually quit the business and buried his negatives. It is estimated that more than 80% of the negatives were destroyed. However, his sister Paula secretly kept in her possession some of the better images, as that is why Rare Prized Photographs Collection exists today.

THE WASHINGTON POST : In 1949, Bettie Page moved to New York with aspirations of becoming an actress. It was there she met one of America s first fetish photographers, Irving Klaw. From 1952 to 1957, Page worked as a model for Klaw for both his photographs and films, earning her the media nickname, The Queen of Bondage. Klaw was targeted during the Kefauver Hearings of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, in which his photographs were claimed to be causing deviance, perversion and violence. Klaw was not charged, but felt compelled to burn his prints and negatives upon returning to New York. What photos survived were saved by his sister Paula.

Bettie Page and Irving Klaws collaboration produced far more than merely pin-up photographs. They gave generations of people (women in particular) something to admire; they held up a mirror to all women, by showing one, strong, unapologetic woman, at home with her curvaceous body. While by today s standards some of these photographs may seem tame, even humorous, there was nothing funny about what Bettie and Irving were up to. They were, maybe unwittingly, blazing a trail for the future pro-sex feminists of the world to follow; a document of life, of love, and sexual freeddom.