The Ritter Brothers were pioneers of physique photography, having begun their business
around 1935. They photographed themselves, each other, and quite a few models,
as well as posing for George Platt Lynes and Earle Forbes, shown above.
Disclosure: I removed yellowing from this photo.
The Ritter Brothers were legends on the East Coast with their full nudes in the artistic manner that kept censors at bay. As my uncle said with the Ritter Brothers you got two gods, Adonis and Apollo, for the price of one. His vast collection of East Coast physique photographers works going back to the 1920’s were trashed along with all his other belongings by miserable homophobic relatives when he died in 1982.
ReplyDeleteRex in DC
You uncle had a sad, but not at all uncommon, story. Nowadays, even less than sympathetic survivors are seeing dollar signs instead of red flags when they come across such legacies. There has been a steady increase in such material available for purchase, both online and in galleries.
Delete$$$ Ca-Ching !
DeleteThat’s how it goes. You should have seen the tumult when my dear relatives fought over his house, talk about probate. And over a man they ridiculed. Vengeance was mine and other relatives when we let old time friends from his gay social circle in the house to retrieve whatever they desired from fine furniture to beautiful antiques.
Rex in DC
Then you did a good thing.
DeleteSo sad to hear, of the destruction of material from a golden age of physical culture. Two beautiful men turned themselves, and others into high photographic art.
ReplyDeleteDoppelgänger-Brüder :)
ReplyDeleteSo gutaussehend, elegant und stilvoll in der Art-Deco-Ära, als die männliche nackte Form zu ihrem Recht kam. (“)
It was really an artistic loss when they stopped doing photography and moved on to other careers.
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