Amateur Ablutions

Our Saturday theme is amateur shots of men doing their ablutions, and you will soon see 

some photo quality that shrieks "amateur."  We start with a World War II German 

soldier using a railway rotary track switch as a shaving stand.

 

Group of five

Here we have guys washing clothes, shaving, bathing, and bending over.

Did the bender drop the soap?  And why does the shaver have his pants around his knees?

 

Washing and doing his washing

This guy looks like he's washing himself in the sink after 

having washed and hung up some socks and underwear.

 

Washout

The washed out nature of this photo attests to the 

likelihood of amateur origin and also fits the theme.

Disclosure:  I had to work on this to make it viewable at all.

 

Blurry group

Although the image is blurry, we can see one guy shaving, one guy scrubbing his crotch,

one shaving, and on standing there washing his chest.  And all in a creek.

 

Filling a glass?

Finishing up with a beefy fellow who appears to be filling a glass 

somewhere in a rather large tiled bathroom or locker room.

Maybe he had been brushing his teeth.

 

AMG 1958

Bob Mizer of AMG captured this image of an unknown lanky model in what I suspect was a stage set bathroom, not a real one.  Am I the only one whose home had those space heaters as a kid?

 

Late 1950's, Part 1 - Five of our Favorite Physique Photographers

Today's double feature centers on the late 1950's with one or two possible shots from 1960.  

Part one has photos by five well known physique photographers, starting with this one 

of Jack Thomas by Russ Warner.  Jack was Young Mr. America of 1956.

 

Lon 1957

Lionel Revaute was Junior Mr. France in 1957 and posed for Lon of New York.

 

Kris 1959

Chuck Renslow of Kris Studio took this photo Jerry Thomas, aka Don Wilder, in 1959.

This somehow escaped my Superman knockoff series.

 

Pat Milo 1959-60

My source dated this Pat Milo photo of Jim Stewart at 1959 or 1960.

 

Late 1950's, Part 2 - The Art of David Park

David Park (1911-1960) was a Boston born artist who moved to the Bay Area as a young man.  He worked in a style called Figurative which incorporated both abstract and realistic images in his work.  Many observers state that his work in the last few years of his life, much of it done after his fatal cancer diagnosis, was of a more realistic style, especially when human figures were involved.  Today we will see five works by David Park that differ somewhat in style, but are recognizably his.

 

Man with Stool 1959

This drawing is from the period in which David Park was more realistically portraying men's bodies, although as you will see, he still had some late abstract moments.

 

Shower 1956

This is "Standing Nude in the Shower" from 1956 and I think it is excellent.

 

Reclining

David Park's take on the classic reclining nude is somewhat edgy and anatomically realistic.

 

Duo

David Park was heterosexual with what was described as a "reasonably happy" marriage and two daughters.  He painted and drew a number of female and mixed gender nudes, but when one does a search for his works, the male nudes seem to get top billing.  This duo is undated.

 

Hefty

Closing out the David Park series with a picture of a heavyset fellow 

done near the end of Park's life in late 1959 or early 1960.

 

Day of the Derriere - Soldier Bums

You long neglected members of the Bum Brigade will no doubt enjoy our all rear view series today featuring military men.  We start with some Germans with buckets and pans.

 

First World War Prisoners

These guys are supposed to be Russian POWs from World War I waiting for a shower.  One soldier 

seems to be keeping his boots on until the very last minute.  Theft was likely a problem.

 

Sauna exit

According to Mr. Scumbeast, these were German, not Finnish, soldiers exiting a sauna.

 

Americans in color

In their only known photograph in today's series, the U.S. Army appears here 

showing off a portable shower unit in North Africa.  From the LIFE Archive.

 

Helping hand

One soldier is helping another get clean, and the little scene leaves 

me wondering just how intimately thorough things became.

 

Waders

This one was part of Miss Magnolia Thunderpussy's collection of WWII Germans.

 

Shower bum buddies

I think this well built pair were photographed in North Africa,

and those water cans look like German types.

 

Alternating Al Urban, starting with David Asnis

For Wednesday, I'm alternating nude and semi-nude photos of Al Urban, with all but the final two being pairs of the same models.  We start with an unabashed David Asnis and his small one.

 

Asnis, All American Athlete?

Well, David Asnis was a New York men's fashion model, not an all American athlete,

but that didn't keep him from appearing on the cover of a magazine with that name.

Al Urban provided the photo for this edition in December of 1940.

 

Jules Bacon

Jules Bacon is muscles head to toe in this Al Urban derriere shot.

 

Bacon 1944

Al Urban's photo of Jules Bacon had a painted on posing 

strap for the March 1944 cover of Strength and Health.

 

Arthur Harris

I've featured Arthur Harris several times on the blog, and I think for good reason.

Al Urban posed him impressively here with a Classic staff.

 

Harris in odd shorts, briefs, or whatever

Even in shorts, Arthur Harris looks great.  And speaking of those short, they look like an odd style with that twist on the side.  Perhaps frequent vintage fashion commentator Calorman can enlighten us.

 

John Gallagher

A lightly oiled John Gallagher looks typically good in this Urban photo.

 

Gallagher in fake pants

The pants in this magazine cover shot of John Gallagher look painted on,

but try as I might, I haven't been able to find a corresponding full nude.

 

Unknown

The last two photos in this series are mismatched and unknown, to me at least.

This "Superman" pose is almost timeless.

 

Imaginary Archery?

It Al Urban posed this unknown model as an imaginary archery, it wouldn't be the only time 

it has been done.  The lighting, while a bit harsh, is actually pretty good.

 

Men and Boats

Today we see some men with boats, starting with his early 70's 

guy on a catamaran off California seems to be showing off.

 

Knockoff or Not?

I found this unlabeled in my boating files, and I'm not sure if it is a 1900s Italian photo or a later knockoff.  There was a guy making a living a while back imitating von Gloeden.

 

Boat Bums

I keep feeling like I have been neglecting the Bum Brigade and their always affable President, Albert the Gay Belgian.  This will have to tide you guys over until I do a Day of the Derriere.

 

Nice color

Some late 60s nudist magazines had good color photography, and this is a good example.  

That hair style at left was way out of date, even for then.

 

Well, it does have a sail.

There were two reasons I almost didn't include this picture.  First, it's a windsurfer and not a boater, but I've stretched categories more than that before.  Second, I was not sure it was pre-1975, but some checking showed that it was from a 1970-ish magazine and windsurfing equipment was produced in quantity as early as 1968.  I have a neighbor who's constantly doing it . . . with his shorts on, alas.

 

Milo Men - The Outliers

I was going through my Pat Milo files organizing some one-model series, and noticed that 

he had a lot of great looking men pose for him who only have one or two photos in my

 collection.  (That doesn't mean there aren't more out there somewhere, though.) So I put 

together a little group of them for our Monday.  We start with Chuck Bateman on a bar stool.

 

Doug

I love this photo of a somewhat acrobatic Doug Zorbach.  Lots to like here.

 

Jack

I do have one or two other photos of Jack Brazil, 

but I had to use this one for Albert and the Bum Brigade.

 

Bill

Never let it be said that Pat Milo had no sense of humor.  Not only does this unconventional pose delight the viewer, but the model, Bill Mohrer, seems to be having a great time.

 

Ray

Pat Milo was less likely than a lot of other physique photographers to work outdoors, 

but when he did, the results were usually quite good.  This is Ray Unger.

 

FKK Day, Part 1 - the Photographic Art of Gerhard Riebicke

Thanks to the generosity of viewer adamskostum I recently obtained a large number of scans of photos of the Frei Körper Kultur  (Free Body Culture) movement of 20th Century Germany.  These folks engaged in open air nudity, exercise, and sunbathing.  Gerhard Riebicke was a professional photographer who took some amazing images of FKK, mostly in the early 1930s.  The first half of today's FKK double features showcases some of those works, starting with this splendid javelin thrower.  The quality of these would be even better were they not scans from magazines.

Five men on a terrace

Riebicke took some of his best photos on this terrace with the interesting fence/rail.

I can't figure out, however, why every man has his own medicine ball when the usual practice was to toss it back and forth or around a circle.  Maybe they threw them in the air and caught them.

 

Tension exercise

At first I couldn't tell if these two guys were wrestling or doing acrobatics.

The caption solved that, though, as "Spannuebung" translates as "tension exercise."

 

Quartet with Gear

These four athletic types are holding what appear to be a medicine ball, a javelin, 

a possible hammer throw, and utterly incongruously, some sort of drum.  

Maybe they needed to keep a rhythm while working out.

 

Ball on the Beach

This is some pretty good stop action photography for 1932.

Gerhard Riebicke was a top professional.

 

FKK Day, Part 2 - Semi-nudes through the decades

Part two of our double feature has us looking at a variety of FKK semi-nudes over 

five decades, starting with this 1911 photo of a man beside a pond.  The quality is 

remarkable given the date and the fact that the photo came from a magazine.