Idols - Gilles Larrain

LARRAIN, Gilles.
Idols. 
First edition. 4to. [52pp]. Printed wraps. Numerous bright colour plates. New York: Links, 1973.
A very good copy of a scarce and fragile book.

Beautiful first printing of Larrain's now legendary book. An incredible document of 1970s New York. Ryan McGinley says of the work: 'I can’t remember when I first saw the book Idols by Gilles Larrain. All I know is that ever since I got it, it’s been a huge influenceon me. Idols is one of the best photographic books I’ve ever seen. It was published in 1973 and is a collection of studio portraits of trannies, gender-benders, and just generally awesome looking people in New York City. It’s an incredible time capsule. There are Warhol people, like Taylor Mead and Holly Woodlawn, and members of the San Francisco-based psychedelic drag queen performance troupe the Cockettes. There’s a photo of the artist Al Hansen, (a.k.a. Beck’s grandfather), covered in silvery paint and dressed up like some kind of Roman soldier, and an unrecognizable, teenage Harvey Fierstein, looking like a young, pretty Jewish lady (well, almost). Most important, these people all had the best style. The greatest fashion always originates with drag queens. The outfit you’re wearing today was probably invented by a drag queen ten years ago.’