Tony Sansone Day

Tony Sansone is featured on the blog today, and our first image is

 by Edwin Townsend, as are most in today's series.

 

Painted on?

I can't decide if those trunks are painted on or not.  

 

Bush Factor 10

This photo of Tony Sansone with a piece of rope 

in front of a mirror gets a 10 on the bush scale.

 

Tiptoe muscles

Edwin Townsend and Tony Sansone were magic together.  The model knew how to pose perfectly 

to show off his fine body, and the photographer knew just how to capture it.

 

Old Favorite

I had to repeat this old favorite from the early days of the blog.

The photographer was Edwin Townsend.

 

Mysterious

Edwin Townsend's subdued lighting gives a mysterious element to this one.

 

Edwin Townsend

Here we have Caleb Sanders in a Flandrin inspired photo by Edwin Townsend.

 

Unknown Townsend I

Edwin Townsend was best known for his many amazing photos of Tony Sansone.  My usually impeccable source says this is an unknown, but I do see a resemblance to Mr. Sansone.

 

Leon Nole

Leon Nole autographed this 1930 Edwin Townsend picture 

for his friend and fellow bodybuilder/model Sig Klein.

 

Unknown Townsend II

Here is another unknown (to me, anyway) Edwin Townsend model.

 

Raymond Van Cleef

This is Raymond Van Cleef by Edwin Townsend.

 

Unknown by Townsend

Although best known for his stunning photos of Tony Sansone, Edwin Townsend 

did use other models.  This one is unknown by all accounts.

 

New Find

In 1932 Tony Sansone published a book of mostly nude photos called Modern Classics.  

Some copies of this book have recently come onto the vintage resale market where they 

are fetching upwards of $500.  I'm actually surprised they don't bring more, but I think 

about 20,000 were originally sold, so that may hold the resale value down.  The photo 

above is new to me, from the book, and widely attributed to Edwin Townsend.

 

Mirror

Although we might hope for a sharper photo,  

this mirror shot by Edwin Townsend is quite good.

 

Edwin Townsend

Edwin Townsend did photograph models other than Tony Sansone,

and this attractive man is an example.

 

Genius Week, Day 6 - Sansone and Townsend

Sometimes genius comes in pairs, such as Elton John/Bernie Taupin, F. Scott/Zelda Fitzgerald, and Steven Spielberg/John Williams.  When it comes to male nude photography, I hold that Tony Sansone and Edwin Townsend fall into that category.  About 85% of the extant photos of Mr. Sansone are by Mr. Townsend, and I somehow doubt that we would all be such ardent admirers of Tony Sansone if he had never been photographed by him.  Yes, he did some good work with Earle Forbes and even George Platt Lynes, but Townsend's work is the gold standard.  While he had dabbled in male nudes before encountering Tony Sansone, Townsend was best known for photographing Broadway theatrical types.  The two of them together are magic and immortal.

 

Autographed

Mr. Sansone autographed this for Robert Bellamy on Christmas Day, year unknown.

Mr. Bellamy surely had a great holiday season, whatever year it was.

 

Tippy Toe

I think it was brilliant for Edwin Townsend to pose Tony Sansone on tiptoes.

The musculature is shown off beautifully with that boost.

 

Sophisticated

This one has a very sophisticated look, but then again our two geniuses were in New York.

 

Sandals and column

The sandals are modern, but with the column they imply a Roman influence.