Models

For the last day of January, I have a group of models for you to enjoy.  Since one of you recently mentioned that he never gets tired of the St. Sebastian motif, we'll begin with this.  The year was 1943, and the model was Guido Fabiani posing for Giovanni Colacicchi.  The artist had evacuated with his family from Florence to the town of Vallombrosa which, despite being under German/Fascist occupation, was safer.  Being tied to a rough tree for hours on end was so painful that Sr. Fabiani moaned and cried out at times, leading a passerby to think the Fascists were torturing somebody inside.  Now that's what I call atmospheric authenticity for posing.

 

1930s

The students' clothing makes me think this art class was in the 1930s.

"Rowan" was the only note on the file.  Photographer?

 

Live Installation

Above is an artist prepping his model for one of those live installation pieces from the 1970s 

where the model was the art.  Below, he seems to be checking out the finished work.

 

Unknown, to me at least

I really like this photo of an elderly artist and his model, but I haven't a clue 

as to who the painter is.  If anyone knows, please post in the comments.

 

1910

This is supposed to be a postcard (French, no doubt) from 1910

showing a model taking a turn at being the artist.

 

Physique Pictorial, Volume 27

 The Bill D. Collection II

It's been an embarrassingly long time since I posted an item from the collection of classic physique magazines so generously donated (physically, no less) by Bill D. of Palm Springs.  So today we will digitally thumb through Volume XXVII of Bob Mizer's Physique Pictorial from 1975.  You will have seen some of these images before because they are among Mr. Mizer's best, having appeared here and on other blogs.  I am not commenting on individual pages because I think Bob Mizer did that quite well enough in the original.  (I scanned these at sufficient resolution that you should be able to enlarge them to read all the interesting text.)  I will, however, reply to questions and tasteful comments as always.  So sit back and enjoy an issue of Physique Pictorial that I think is among the very best.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Bill D.  

You can't know how much I value your generosity.

Front Cover

 

Pgs. 2-3

 

Pgs. 4-5

 

Pgs. 6-7

 

Pgs. 8-9

 

Pgs. 10-11

 

Pgs. 12-13

 

Pgs. 14-15

 

Pgs. 16-17

 

Pgs. 18-19

 

Pgs. 20-21

 

Pgs. 22-23

 

Pgs. 24-25

 

Pgs. 26-27

 

Pgs. 28-29

 

Pgs. 30-31

 

Back Cover

Bob Mizer chose an old posing strap picture of Joseph Schaller for the back cover of Volume XXVII.

I'd like to once again than Bill D. for his wonderful generosity.

 

Ten Twentieth Century Male Nude Paintings

I tend to post a lot of 19th Century art because the male nude was a standard academic exercise during that time.  Well, the trend did extend into the 20th Century, plus there were a lot of non-academic works done then.  So today we'll take a mixed look across seven decades.  Our first item is a 1910 academic painting by female Danish artist Bodil Rohweder.  This is said to be her graduation piece.

 

Thomas Tenant Baxter 1914

Thomas Tenant Baxter was only 20 years of age when he painted this in 1914.

 

Munch 1915

Viewer Arturo M. sent me this painting by Edvard Munch, along with another painting and several interesting photos.  Expect to see more from Arturo's collection in the future.  Many thanks!

 

Walter Thomas Monnington 1921

The model seems to be staring at the wall in this 1921 work by Monnington.

 

Dutch

This painting fetched a high price at auction, despite being by an unknown artist and said 

only to be "early 20th Century Dutch."  That description covers a lot of territory.

 

Konchalovsky 1931

I gave Pyotr Konchalovsky his own series a while back,

but I failed to include this attractive early 1930s work.

 

Gaylord Flory 1945

I like the Impressionist feel to this 1945 piece by Gaylord Flory.

 

Lucien Freud 1950s

This painting as a very interesting story behind it.  Shortly after it sold at an estate auction in the late 1990s as a Lucian Freud work, Freud offered the new owner twice what he had paid for it.  When the owner refused, Freud denied he had ever painted it, and Freud's estate continued to deny it after his death.  Twenty years later, a team of experts (art detectives would be a better term) authenticated it as Freud's.  They even established that it was a nude self portrait done by Freud for his friend Francis Bacon's Geneva apartment, a center of gay society in the 50s.  The form is said to be based on an Eadweard Muybridge motion study, and it certainly looks it.

 

Emilio Notte 1956

This male nude was painted by Emilio Notte in 1956, and it manages to fully express

 the musculature without being literally a copy of the model's body.

 

Barney Reid 1969

Our last entry won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's edgy and interesting.  It's Standing Male Nude by Barney Reid from 1969, and it was done by layering enamel over a copper plate.  Innovative, eh?

 

Brian E Donation Day

I've been very fortunate to have generous viewers who share images with me on a regular basis.  One of the most frequent and wide ranging in terms of content is Brian E.  So today, I am featuring a buffet of great photos Brian sent me, starting with Alan Arnold, who is one of several of today's models whom I hope to give their own series in coming months.  Yes, he's in the infamous AMG tiled shower, and he looks as though he may not like the water temperature.  Thanks a million, Brian!

 

Udo Jurgens

Smoking is unwise to begin with, but in bed?  Oh, well.  Anything for art, I suppose.  This is Udo Jurgens by John Barrington, blotches and stray bits of equipment included at no extra charge.

 

Jean-Marie Negri

I've already posted at least one of Brian's photos

 of Jean-Marie Negri by Jean Ferrero, and here's another.

 

David Jones

The wide leather watch band dates this AMG photo of David Jones to about 1970.

Thanks to Brian E's sharing, we'll have a full series on this model, complete with some color.

 

Al Kaskey

Bruce of LA photographed Al Kaskey's bodaciously beautiful bum against his trademark 

corrugated metal backdrop.  And for good measure, that seagrass mat is in there as well.

 

Chris Averkiou

Chris Averkiou appears to have been photographed 

by Scott of London reclining o a motorcycle wheel.

 

Gregg Palmer

I don't know who took this picture of Gregg Palmer, 

but he'll be getting his own full series down the line.

 

Chuck Johnson

This is Chuck Johnson by AMG, and that might be his real name, or at least initials.  

There's a jailhouse tattoo of C.J. on his right shourlder.

 

Rick Pagan

Our last photo is Rick Pagan, aka Gordon O'Brien, by AMG.  Thanks to Brian E's exceptional generosity, this model will be getting at least one, and possibly two, series of his own.  

Thanks, Brian!!!

 

The Scumbeast Collection - Ken's captions

My lamented late friend Ken Suffolk, aka Mr. Scumbeast, often used the captions of his 

postings on Ipernity as the file names for his images.  Today we'll look at seven mostly

 witty examples, starting with "There'll be blue birds over . . . "

 

Rare color

Ken rarely posted anything in color, unless it was a very old circus poster from his huge collection of circus images.  This one appeared during one of his periodic playful feuds with Miss Magnolia Thunderpussy, who went apoplectic anytime someone posted a picture of a chubby man.  

Ken captioned and titled this one "For Miss MT, note the cookie on offer."

 

Pulling the plug

"Naked swim 124, or Oh, dear.  I've just pulled the plug on the lake"

 

Mud

"Naked swim 93 Riverbank mud larks"

 

Ipernity censorship

This is "Naked swim 117, trying one's hand at Ipernity type censorship . . . "  It was an inside joke about how my former internet home, Ipernity, was finicky about just how and in what state penises were shown.  It's a French site, so one would expect them to be liberal, but no.  All frontal nudity had to be in members only groups, and they would shut us down for anything that resembled an erection or hinted at sexual activity.  (And no, that's not why I don't post those things.  It's a matter of personal taste.) Ken told me privately that he posted this mostly to see if they would suspend him.  They didn't.

 

Morning

Ken called this one "Morning, it's a hard life in the dorm."

 

Venus or something else

Our last entry in the Scumbeast series is one he called "Penis arising from the sea."

Oddly, he didn't name it Naked Swim, and it doesn't look like it's rising, at least not yet.  

 

Arboreal Art

Having lived in a rain forest for 18 years now, I appreciate trees.  Today we will look at some 

models posed with trees that I thing are on the artistic side.  We start with a young man whose expression is hard to read . . . once you take your eyes off that other feature and look.