Amos Badertscher, Who Documented Baltimore’s Sexual Underground, Dies at 86
Amos Badertscher, a self-taught photographer whose stark, powerful and sometimes erotic images of hustlers, prostitutes and drag queens in Baltimore reflected his empathy for people living on the fringes of the city, died on July 24 in Baltimore.
He was 86. Mr. Badertscher’s death, at a rehabilitation facility, came after he broke his arm in a fall in his backyard, said Bill Badertscher, his adopted son, former companion and only immediate survivor.
Before his fall, Mr. Baderstcher (pronounced bah-DER-cher) had been expected to attend a retrospective of about 200 of his photos at the Albin O.
Kuhn Library Gallery at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, which is to open on Aug. 30. “He lived on the first floor of a rowhouse, completely surrounded by his photographs,” Beth Saunders, who curated the University of Maryland show, said in a phone interview. “You’d walk with him and stop as he pointed out a photograph, and he’d tell you stories about it.
