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.

 

Outdoors

Outdoor photos of Tony Sansone are somewhat rare,

and I do not know who took this one.

 

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.

 

Rodin

I see a Rodin inspiration in this pose that reallys shows off Mr. Sansone's physique.

 

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.

 

Staff

The patch of light at upper left makes Mr. Sansone's staff almost look like a torch.

 

Sword

Our last Tony Sansone photo shows him looking lean and muscular with a sword.

 

Tony Sansone, Part 1 - Nudes

I'm posting a two parter today featuring Tony Sansone.  Part one will be nudes, and part two will be some photo illustrations of one of his exercise manuals.  We start with this photo from the biography American Adonis.  No photographer was listed, but it was probably Edwin Townsend.

 

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.

 

George Platt Lynes

It's always wonderful when two forms of genius come together, and this photo of Tony Sansone in front of a fireplace by George Platt Lynes is an example.  I have previously posted another derriere shot from this session, but I have been unable to find and frontals of Mr. Sansone by Mr. Lynes.

 

Man of Steel

Although this last R-rated picture does not have a photographer attribution,

it certainsly looks very much like Edwin Townsend's work.

I like the Superman "man of steel" pose.

 

Tony Sansone, Part 2 - 1938 Exercise Manual

In 1938 Tony Sansone published a home exercise manual called Progressinve Home Physical Training.  We don't know who did the photography, but they did a pretty good job of presenting this amazing man at age 33.  The photos I'm posting are actually from posters that were included in the purchase of the book.  As such they could be placed in view to guide the exercises.  Nice touch, that.

We start with two pictures that immediately caught my eye.

 

Motion

Although this one isn't as graphically effective as another photo in this set,

the mirror image is meant to indicate the motion needed for the exercise.

 

Two approaches

Here we see two of Tony Sansone's approaches to developing upper body strength.  The top photo shows him using two chairs to do a vertical pushup, while a more standard type is shown below.

 

Motion II

Here's another example of negative flipping to strongly imply motion.

The device Mr. Sansone is holding was also used in rolling floor exercises.

 

Grace and Art

Our last image from Tony Sansone's 1938 exercise manual show how he managed to include photos that were both artistic and graceful.  This was a hallmark of his long career as a model and physical culture advocate.  He knew what he was doing and did it beautifully.