PaJaMa Double Feature, Part 1 - Photos from the general collection

I'm posting a PaJaMa double feature today, with the first half being from my general collection and the second half from the Smithsonian donation of Margaret Hoening French.  We start with a very interesting photo of Glenway Wescott that combines his nice body with shadows and a drape.

 

Mel Fellini

This is a study for a painting called The Sea.  The model is Mel Fellini, 

and I'm still trying to figure out how this pose might relate to the sea.

 

Jose Martinez

Jose Martinez posed before a beach dune in 1945.

His tan lines are interesting.

 

Provincetown

This photo of Paul Cadmus (left) and George Tooker was made at Provincetown in 1947.

 

Jensen Yow

I really like the mirror effect in this photo of Jensen Yow, but I'm not sure about the provenance.  It came to me labeled PaJaMa, 1950, but I'm not sure they were still calling themselves that by then.

 

PaJaMa, Part 2 - the Smithsonial Donation

Part two of our PaJaMa double feature is made up of photographs from a box Margaret Hoening French donated to the Smithsonian after her husband Jared's death.  Surprisingly for that noble institution, the collection is not well curated.  My guess is that she simply handed them over, and no one asked her to annotate them.  Perhaps they didn't notice that the only information was in the fact that they were grouped by year.  Of course, some of the characters in them are recognizable, but many are not.  We start with what I assume to be an interesting picture of Jared French.

 

Derriere and shadow

It's hard to know if the interesting effect of the shadow and the offset position of the model are intentional here.  In the hundreds of photos in this particular collection, many have a slapdash appearance, with poor focus, parts of figures cut off, and thrown together backdrops.  Some have speculated that the indoor photos were studies for various PaJaMa paintings and drawings.  Plus, we should also remember that the group was not known primarily for photography.

 

Jared II

This picture of Jared French is more typical of the quality of the Smithsonian donation.

There are literally scores of nude photos of him in that collection.

 

This is rare for the PaJaMa Smithsonian donation because the model, John Butler, is identified.  That may be because this photo and others of him appear sometimes outside the donation.

 

Lanky look

Our last PaJaMa Smithsonian photo shows a model who may be the same one as in the derriere shot posted earlier in this part of the series.  I like the way he is positioned as it enhances his lanky look.  The picture is obviously off center and a bit out of focus, like a lot of them.

 

Nudist Art Shows

Our theme for the day is nudist art shows,

starting with this well built fellow.

 

Drawings

I don't know if this is the artist or and admirer.

 

Statuette

"I went to the Nudist Art Show, and all I could find was this cheesy statuette."

 

Hip couple

This hip couple seem to be at an art show that reminds me of a Jefferson Airplane album cover.

 

In the grass

I think this guy is sitting next to a female with a palette.  Several landscape paintings on view.

 

Class?

This looks more like an art class than an art show.

 

Admirers

These two men are admiring some art under a palm tree.

 

Middle aged

This middle aged man appeared in several 1960s nudist magazine pieces.

 

I have no idea about what that is he's spray painting or what that is around his neck.

 

Early times

This last photo looks much earlier than the rest in today's series,

and I think it may be early 20th Century FKK.

 

Team Sports Day

Today is team sports day on the blog.  I don't know what 

sort of team this is, but they like beer . . . a lot.

And I'd be willing to bet they're English.

 

Basketball I

Pretty nice stop action in this basketball shot.

 

France 1939

This is some sort of sports tableau from a French youth camp in the summer of 1939.

A year later they would be either occupied by the Germans or under the Vichy regime.

 

Queen's Park 1974

This is the 1974 Queen's Park team in what looks like a strange shower.

 

Rugby Team

Based on the sheer number of photos I've seen, I'd say rugby players are 

among the most likely team sports men to doff their clothes for the camera.

 

1895 Water Polo

This is the New York Athletic Club water polo team from 1895.  (I didn't even know they played water polo in 1895, btw.)  When I first saw this, I thought they were a track and field team because of the winged feet on their suits.  Then I read the caption.  Oh, and the three men at center top are easily the best looking items from today's entire series.  The coach ain't bad, either.

 

Rugby again

Unlike soccer players, I don't think rugby guys even have to be drunk to doff their clothes.

 

Basketball II

Despite the fact that one of the men is wearing street shoes,

there's an authentic athletic feel to the action here.

 

1938 Washington Redskins

Don't you just love the smell of testosterone in the morning?

I think these are Washington Redskins from about 1938.

 

Team fun

I found this interesting group on a sports website with no information.

Maybe they're part of an Estonian hockey team having a post-game sauna.

 

Celebrating Half a Century with my Beard

It was 50 years ago this week when I last shaved, so today I am celebrating some men from history, art, literature, and music who had nice beards.  First some modern memes:

Ernest Hemingway

Our next bearded genius is not only considered one of the best (if not the very best) 20th Century American writers, but had a beard so famous that there's an annual lookalike contest for him:

 

The lucky winner not only gets kissed, but I have a good feeling he 

gets groped, too.  I mean really, it is Key West after all.

Hemingway looked pretty good shirtless, too:

Here's another shot of Mr. Hemingway:

 

Hadrian

Hadrian (76-138 CE) is at the middle of the sequence called "the Five Good Emperors of Rome."  A proponent of Greek art and culture, he took a Greek lover, Antinous, and was made an honorary citizen of Athens.  Hadrian refused to expand the boundaries of the Empire preferring to consolidate and defend what he inherited.  He was a builder of many monuments and public improvements, even going so far as to help design them.  Like just about any Roman emperor, however, he had a brutal side.  Hadrian had four prominent Senators executed upon his accession for unclear reasons.  He was rumored to have poisoned his wife, for whom he had no use, and he brutally repressed any opposition or rebellion.  A revolt in Roman Judaea lasted years and resulted in the death of over half a million Jews, with many others being enslaved.  Still, Hadrian left quite a legacy.

I took this photo of the Pantheon on a visit to Rome in 1998.  Hadrian rebuilt and enlarged this incredible edifice with its amazing concrete dome and stone brought from all over the Empire.  In an unusual stroke of modesty, he left the name of Agrippa prominently displayed despite the fact that the new version bore little resemblance to the one built by Agrippa.

This statue shows a nude Hadrian as Mars with Venus.

Above is the Maritime Theater, which is not a theater at all, 

but Hadrian's private retreat inside his massive villa outside Rome.

I freely confess to having had a crush on Hadrian since I saw this bust in the British Museum.

This is Hadrian's Mausoleum which was later repurposed by the Popes as a fortress 

they called Castell Sant'Angelo.  For me, the original interior sections were far

 more interesting than all the Papal trappings built on the top.

 

Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy was admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris at age 10.  By age 12 he had won a major prize for playing a difficult Chopin piece.  Shortly after that, he began to compose his own works, winning the prestigious Prix de Rome.  His career just went up from there.  Called the first Impressionist composer, he never liked the label, but his style does seem to fit it.

He sat for this portrait by Jacque-Emile Blanche:

Another photo:

 

John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent lived a life so scandalous that he had to leave London after doing "Portrait of Madame X."  Bisexual, prone to diddling Venetian gondoiers and the male domestic help, erratic, and temperamental, he fit a lot of observers' concept of what the "artistic type" should be.

Sketching men sprawled across beds was something of a specialty with Mr. Sargent.

I can't remember if this is the valet or one of those gondoliers.

When he wasn't busy in the bedroom, he could do this.

I'll leave you with a self portrait.