Bill Grant

I don't know who took this photo of Bill Grant, 

but it should be easy to see why he made my favorites list.

 

Joe Weber

I borrowed this one from James over at Men From Back Then .

It's a beautiful Joe Weber photo of Bill Grant and some shag carpet.

Thanks, James!

 

Bill Grant

I wasn't quite sure that this was Bill Grant until I saw an entry on another blog by Cambria who confirmed the ID.  Cambria is a wealth of information on classic era physique photos.

 

Pgs. 30-31

The model at right looks like Bill Grant who worked for both AMG and Bruce.

 

Finishing the nude part of the series with American Bill Grant holding a sword.

 

Bill Grant is all soaped up in this Denny Denfield color photo.

 

Arax of Paris, Part 1 - Nudes

Our Wednesday double feature focuses on the work of Arax of Paris, a studio active from the 1930's into the 70's.  This is the third Arax photo of American model Bill Grant I have posted over the years. and I'd love to know the story behind what appears to have been a single photo session.  Despite several searches, I haven't been able to learn if Arax went to America or Grant went to Europe.  Bill looks young here, and shows more body hair than in some of his work.  He also modeled for AMG, Dave Martin, Bruce of LA, and probably Pat Milo.  Busy man, but easy to see why.

Unattributed Star Models

Today I'm featuring six of my favorite physique models in photos for which I have no photographer attribution.  Five of them have had their own series here at least once, and the sixth will soon.  We start with Bill Grant, who is standing next to a column that ought to be a clue as to the photographer.

Edited to add:  See the comment by James IV for his ID of the artist as Pat Milo.  I agree.

Bill Grant and Dick Knight posed for Bruce of LA 

with fishing floats in hand and a net in the background.

Bill Grant worked for a number of photographers including Bruce of LA, Arax, and Bob Mizer of AMG.  Bruce was particularly fond of the squatting pose, but this magazine page looks like it could have come out of AMG's Physique Pictorial.  Could be either, I suppose.
Edited to add:  James IV has confirmed this to be by Bruce.  Trust me, he would know.

My Top Five Favorite Photos . . . for now, anyway.

I had a request from a loyal viewer to post my five current favorite photo, so I am obliging.  Those of you who have followed my postings for a long time will undoubtedly notice that the list has changed over time.  That shouldn't surprise anyone, though, because I have over 30,000 photos in my personal collection.  I am starting with the mid-20th C. physique genre because:  a) there is such a vast amount of material, and b) because much of that material is excellent.  For this round, I have chosen a photo of Bill Grant that is often, but not always, attributed to Pat Milo.  Bill was photographed by a number of outstanding photographers, and for good reason.  I like this shot from later in his career because it artistically shows how well he matured and shows his natural body hair.  Click on the label below the photo for some more biography and some of my other favorites of this great model.

Trio Pyramids

Monday's theme is pyramid trios.  I think that's Bill Grant on the right,

but I don't know the other two or the photographer.  AMG would be my best guess.

I posted a different photo of a youthful looking Bill Grant in an earlier Arax series, 

and this one appears to be from the same session.  In between, I have been trying without

success to research how Bill, an American who is well known to have worked for 

Bruce of LA, AMG, Dave Martin, and Pat Milo, came to pose for the Paris based Arax.  

Did Bill go to Paris or did Gregor Arax visit the USA?  Anybody know?

Bill Grant Day, Part 2 - the not so Nudes

Continuing with Bill Grant Day, we switch to some not quite nude shots.  This was made by Bob Mizer of AMG, and it is the first of three photos today from what I think is the same session.

Bruce of LA took this photo of a young Bill Grant in a posing strap.

Did Bob Mizer keep a trampoline next to his pool?  This is supposed to be an AMG photo of Bill Grant, and the towel, although artfully placed, I could do without.

I don't have a photographer attribution for this Bill Grant 

photo which appears to have been made in a boat.

This is the third of three AMG pictures I am posting today 

that I believe were all made at the same poolside photo shoot.

Interesting to have a posing strap on in the water.

Bill Grant Day, Part 1 - the Nudes

Every now and then during my decades of collecting male nude photos, I have come across a model who both attracts and intrigues me.  Bill Grant is one of those.  (If you Google his name, you will probably get a lot of pictures of a 1970's African-American model of the same name who worked for AMG and was a champion competitive bodybuilder.)  Known to have worked for quite a few photographers (more about that in a later post) in his career, his appearance changed over time and a significant number of his known photos are not attributed to a specific photographer.  So today is Bill Grant day, and we start with this shot generally attributed to Pat Milo.  I love the lighting.

Several books and articles on 1950's physique photography mention that Bill Grant did a photo shoot for Dave Martin, but none of my photos of him list Martin as the photographer.  This one, however, matches Martin's style and settings, so I list it as "possible, perhaps probable, but not certain."