In another item from the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, we see a photo of an unknown model by Antonio Arabia III (1931-1993). I hadn't heard of Mr. Arabia before, so I did some research and found out that he was not only a photographer, but a gay rights activist as well who lived most of his life in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Interestingly, he inherited a bar from his father which became a venue for early rock and roll artists such as Chubby Checker and Bill Haley.
Folks need to interrogate their first reactions to photographs. This shot surfaces so many memories and thwarted desires from high school as to what I thought the perfect male should look like and what I longed for --- i.e. my reaction says more than the picture itself.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, our reaction IS the picture.
DeleteI have this model listed as Neil Edwards by photographer unknown in two further images taken in presumably the Pennsylvanian woods - if you will excuse the tautology. And he has just the sort of West Chester features one would expect.
ReplyDeleteI have his name as Dirk Buchholz. I have 7 more photos of him, 5 of which are woodland scenes like this. The other 2 are (presumably) studio shots.
DeleteFinding a model listed under two (or more) names is not surprising. What surprises me is the lack of recognition for Mr. Arabia, an obviously talented photographer.
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