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Sunday, February 9, 2020

Barton Horvath Day, Part 1 - Nudes by Unknown


Barton Horvath (1912-2004) of New York was a championship competitive bodybuilder, instructor of physical culture, and author of texts and articles on body building.  He appeared on the cover of the first ever edition of Joe Weider's magazine Your Physique in 1940 and continued to appear as a model and as a writer well into the 1960's.  I have exactly six nude photos of Mr. Horvath, and none of them have a photographer attribution.  The style and the fact that they were apparently made in New York around 1940 bring Al Urban, Lon of New York, and Edwin Townsend to mind as possibilities.  Edited to add:  Horvath probably took these himself!  See Tom's comment below.

3 comments:

  1. A truly stunning man. I like the way he's more "sturdy" than most. The shear muscular power built into that physique must have been quite something. The body of a god.

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  2. You have probably already seen this website:
    https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-male-nude-1940s-barton-424131890
    that claims Mr. Horvath was himself a photographer and took many photos with a self-timer. I do not know who wrote the comments or what their sources were, but I suppose that might be one explanation. Personally, I can never get the posing quite right when I am playing both sides of the camera!

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