John Grimek

Our closing photo of John Grimek was in Prof. Desbonnet's personal collection and is believed 

to have been taken by him.  The two knew and respected each other.

 

John Grimek

Clifford Oettinger took his turn at photographing the always impressive John Grimek.

 

With John Grimek

Witnesses reported that American bodybuilding great John Grimek was blushing when this photo 

was taken with Edmond Desbonnet.  The reason?  The Frenchman kissed him goodbye.  

The photo below is from Prof. Desbonnet's collection, and some say he actually took it.  

While it doesn't look like any of his work, I'm not qualified to say whether it is or not.

 

Hunks in Trunks II, Part 2 - Need names

Part two of Hunks in Trunks features photos where either the subject or the photographer is unknown.  We start with an unattributed photo of the always impressive John Grimek.

 

John Grimek Day, Part 1 - The Lon of New York Photos

I have sporadically posted photos of bodybuilding great John Grimek over the years, but today 

I am doing a full three part series on him.  A role model for no less a figure than Steve Reeves, 

he even edged out the younger man in several competitions.  He was active from about 1934 

until the late 1950s.  Part one of our set features the work of Lon of New York, 

shown above with a photo of Mr. Grimek and a statue of Hercules.

 

Front view

The bright lighting in this front view of John Grimek

makes me thing the shot was made outdoors,

but it most likely wasn't.

 

Column

Of course we can't go through all of Lon's photos 

of John Grimek without encountering a column.

 

Dramatic

I like the dramatic element in this pose.

 

Back and glutes

Our last Lon photo of Mr. Grimek shows off his back and glute muscles.

 

John Grimek Day, Part 2 - Strength and Health Covers

As you might expect, John Grimek made regular appearances on the covers of just about all the fitness and bodybuilding magazines of his era.  Today's part two features five of his Strength and Health covers, and that's not even all of them.  Future series will focus on other publications.  This issue from May of 1935 is the earliest John Grimek cover I could find.

 

June 1939

June 1939 saw an artistic reflection shot on the cover and an interesting question.

"Is sexual abstinence necessary for unmarried men?"  I don't know what 

Mr. Grimek would have said, but I don't recommend it.

 

December 1941

This cover came out in December of 1941, but was undoubtedly photographed 

and laid out earlier.  If they only know what was about to break loose.

 

October 1948

A very bronzed looking John Grimek appeared on the 

October, 1948 cover of Strength and Health.

 

At age 46

John Grimek was 46 when he appeared on Strength and Health in February, 1946.

I love the iconic scene and his finely maintained physique.

 

John Grimek Day, Part 3 - Assorted Photos

Part three of our John Grimek series features a variety of unattributed photos.

This one shows of his mighty muscles quite well.

 

"Defiance"

John Grimek did a series of published photos in which he portrayed

 heroic and Classical concepts.  This one was called Defiance.

 

Promotional

This is a promotional piece that Mr. Grimek did with Dich Buchtell.  I'm not sure 

if they were selling the devices, one of Mr. Grimek's courses or both.

 

1939 Superman

Superman magazine issued an art supplement in June of 1939, 

and John Grimek appeared in an impressive photo.

 

"Nudity'

This is another of the photos from the conceptual group by an unknown photographer.

For those of you hoping for nudity in today's series, this is the best we will do.

Interestingly, I have seen autographed prints of this one where 

Mr. Grimek signed his name across the derriere.

 

 

John Grimek

I have not been able to find the name of the photographer who took this stunning cover photo 

of John Grimek for Strength and Health's February 1947 edition.