Anton Szandor LaVey Satan Wants You (1987)
This striking portrait of Anton Szandor LaVey appears to date from a 1987 photographic session connected with Arthur Lyons’ book Satan Wants You: The Cult of Devil Worship in America. LaVey is presented in one of his most recognisable guises: shaved head, goatee, black clerical clothing and pentagram medallion, photographed against an almost completely black background. The severe lighting gives the portrait its distinctive appearance, with LaVey’s face emerging dramatically from the darkness.
Lyons had known LaVey and the Church of Satan milieu since the late 1960s, having previously written The Second Coming: Satanism in America. Nearly two decades later, he returned to the subject for the substantially revised Satan Wants You, published by Mysterious Press in 1988 and subsequently released as a mass-market paperback in 1989. Photographs from the 1987 LaVey session have since been reproduced with acknowledgement to Zeena Schreck, LaVey’s daughter, although this indicates the source or custodian of the photographs rather than necessarily identifying their photographer.
The identity of the photographer behind this particular portrait remains uncertain. What can be established is its connection to the period surrounding Lyons’ book and the carefully constructed public image LaVey maintained during the later years of his life. It remains a particularly powerful portrait of the Church of Satan founder, stripped of elaborate ritual surroundings and relying almost entirely on LaVey himself, his clerical dress and the pentagram at his chest.
- photographer unknown
- photo restoration by Elias Thorne
