Champion Studio - A Black and White Mix

Walter Kundzicz of Champion Studio was one of the first beefcake photographers 

to do predominately color work.  So in my usual perverse bent, I will feature 

some of my favorites from his black and white photos.  We start with Bill Rex.

 

Although not nearly as prone to do so as Bob Mizer of AMG, Walter Kundzicz was fond of 

using his shower as a photo shoot setting.  This is Rock Granger in a mesh posing strap, 

a clever way to get around the censorship laws of the early 60's.

 

Doug Jackson seems to be working his way down a check list.

 

Hank Strothers uses his hand instead of a posing strap

in this photo in front of a sofa.

 

This is Bud Clarke posing with some Columbia U. athletic gear.

 

Darryl Powers posed for several photo shoots at Sunshine Beach,

a nudist resort partly owned by Champion owner Walter Kundzicz.

 

Joe Canoli is half out of his BVDs on the way to Walter Kundzicz's shower.

Canoli is Italian-American slang for pecker.  I learned that watching The Sopranos.

 

This well-built fellow is Keri Long.

 

This is Rich Sternberger, aka Rick Alexander, a Champion model who looks a bit like Tom de Carlo.

 

This is Cliff Dollard in a photo generally, but not always, attributed to Champion.

Some collectors' websites list no photographer for it.

 

Dick Stark was a Columbia University student who appeared in a memorable Champion series of photos of him with some classmates in jockstraps.  Here he appears alone in a posing strap.

 

I've seen this Champion model listed as both Rob and Rod Thoder.

Whatever his given name, he looks ready to pounce in this picture.

 

Hairy Nudists at the Beach

I'm going for a thematic trifecta today with five hairy nudists at the beach.

 

A bear at the beach!  That might make some of you happy.

 

Our Bum Brigade offering seems tentative about going into the water.

 

 

I found this photo in a French nudist magazine.

 

The Artistic French, Part 1 - More drawing by Cocteau

Doing another French double feature today, starting with some drawings by Jean Cocteau.

This one is called Homme Nu Debout, or Naked Man Standing.

 

I'd love to know the story behind this Cocteau drawing 

of a group of nude and seminude men.

 

This is a Cocteau illustration for Jean Genet's Querelle de Brest from 1947.

 

I included this Cocteau work not because of any overt eroticism,

but because it portrays masculinity on an almost cellular level.

 

I have no title for this Cocteau drawing.

 

This drawing which Cocteau called "The Lovers" looks unfinished,

and it has an odd scribble at upper right.  It's quite good regardless.

 

The Artistic French, Part 2 - Photographers contemporary to Cocteau

For part two of our French double feature, we'll take a look at some 

contemporaries of Cocteau who were photographers of male nudes.

We start with the first of two photos by Fernand Dengremont.

 

This derriere shot is by a female French photographer, Laure Albin-Guillot.

She was most active in the 1940's and did far more female nudes than male.

 

I wish I knew the photographer's name for this photo that came labeled only "French."

The hair style makes me think 1940's, but I could be wrong.  I've been wrong before.

 

Here's another 1940's photo by Fernand Dengremont.  Although he wasn't a 

physique photographer, he sure knew how to photograph men's muscles.

 

I can't quite figure out the setting in this photo by Raymond Voinquel, 

a contemporary of Cocteau who also photographed Cocteau's lover.The rocks

and trees are easy, but what's that rectangular thing above the model's shoulder?