Bok was gay, according to his friends Forrest J Ackerman and Emil Petaja. The erotic fantasy elements of his artwork, especially his male nude subjects, display homoerotic overtones unusual for the time. The opening chapters of his novel Beyond the Golden Stair hint at a sexual relationship between two prison inmates, the hero John Hibbert and the gangster Frank Scarlatti.Bok, Hannes. Beyond the Golden Stair, Ballantine, 1970.
Bok was gay according to his friends Forrest J Ackerman and Emil Petaja. The erotic fantasy elements of his artwork, especially his male nude subjects, display homoerotic overtones unusual for the time. The opening chapters of his novel Beyond the Golden Stair hint at a sexual relationship between two prison inmates, the hero John Hibbert and the gangster Frank Scarlatti.Bok, Hannes. Beyond the Golden Stair, Ballantine, 1970.