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The Art Amsie Bettie Page scans have recently been completed after
about eight years worth of wrestling in Photoshop. The scans are
quite a bit larger than the previous set. For the first time ever,
the complete collection Art Amsie's 84 3D slides is available for
viewing. Only four of the scans have been left in their original
state so you can get an idea of the work involved. The complete
collection is spectacular!
Sometime during the early to mid 1950s, Art Amsie (born Jun. 11
1927) and a group of other avid pin-up photographers got together
and pooled their money to hire THE BEST New York model at the time;
Bettie Page who was often very late for her photographic
assignments. Art then snapped away without any thought of what
Bettie Page was to become, a pinup, fetish and all around goddess
icon of the modern world. Art Amsie tried focusing on the other
girls but found himself always returning to Bettie Page. He really
loved her. All of Art Amsie's work was in 3D as was
Paul Knaut's.
Art Amsie's first camera club session with Bettie Page probably
occurred on Aug. 7 1955 which was also attended by
Franklin Acker.
Art Amsie photographed Bettie Page multiple times. After Bettie Page
left the modeling scene, he stashed his photographic material away
in a little box and forgot about her for a long while (or tried
forcing the memory of Bettie Page from his mind). Years later he
heard whispers about Bettie Page when everyone started to wonder
whatever happened to her and began searching for her. One place Art
stated that he shot Bettie Page was at B.C. Bay. I have not found
B.C. Bay. Many of Art's photos were taken at the
Headley Farm,
a popular camera club haunt. One particular Headley Farm extravaganza
was attended by Art Amsie,
Don Baida,
Arnold Kovacs
and Weegee amongst others on Sept. 09 1956. The roster of
photographers must have been huge as I have seen see many photos
from this session that are not attributed to Amsie, Baida, Kovacs or
Weegee.
Art Amsie had a true love of pin-up photography and Bettie Page. He
had the foresight to photograph Bettie Page in 3D so he could view
her years later as she was at the pinnacle of her beauty. Bettie
Page and Art Amsie kept in contact after she was "rediscovered" in
the 1990s. They exchanged Christmas cards and often enjoyed many
long telephone conversations together. Art Amsie still wanted to
marry her years later after she had quit modeling but Bettie Page
was happy with the way things were. As with many others, Art Amsie
never forgot Bettie Page and carried a torch for her for years. One
common theme in conversations I've had with Bettie Page
photographers was that they still loved her now, just as they did
when they photographed her. Bettie Page gave them all a dose of
powerful black magic.
Art Amsie passed away on Feb. 24 2006 of heart failure.
I have begun selling Art Amise's original 3D slide collection of
Bettie Page and have many high quality examples of his work left.
Art Amsie was one of the most well known photographers of Bettie
Page and his work is featured extensively in "Bettie Page: Life of a
Pinup Legend".
Anyone interested in an original 3D slide of Bettie Page by Art Amsie can contact me for details.
I also have a set of 15 Bettie Page photos by Art Amsie from his
original stock. 14 are 8x10s and signed which he rarely did. They
are signed on the reverse and many include his comments shooting
Bettie Page.
and
The last is a gorgeous 11x14" photo which is numbered signed in gold by both Bettie Page and Art Amsie.
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