George Quaintance was born in rural Virginia in 1902, and both he and his parents figured out he was gay by the time he was 10. Surprisingly, his folks accepted it and sent him to art school in New York as soon as he was old enough. After stints as a dancer, hairdresser, and vaudeville performer, George found his niche as a painter. Starting with celebrity portraits, he soon moved on to do covers for muscle man magazines. (I have about 30 of those in my files and will do a series someday.) That led to homoerotic images which pushed the censorship limits of the day. So today is George Quaintance day, and we will start with some photos before moving on to his art later. The shot above is a probably retouched self portrait he autographed for a friend in 1952. I suspect the photo is older.
What a terrific photo!
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