Eugen Sandow

It's been years since I devoted and entire series to the great Eugen Sandow, so let's do it today.

We start with a grainy photo of him standing on a leopard skin working a dumbbell.

I promise you the quality gets much better going forward in the set.

 

Younger?

Is it just me, or does Mr. Sandow look younger in this photo than many?

 

Stark Lighting

The stark lighting here seems to work.

 

Hercules Rear I

There are several hand-tinted color photos of Eugen Sandow circulating online.There are also 

some fake modern re-dos, but I think this version of Hercules and his club is original.

 

Warwick Brooks

Mr. Sandow posed for Warwick Brooks of Manchester, England in 1895.

 

Movie

This movie is from the Library of Congress film collection.

Mr. Sandow looks simply magnificent.

 

Benjamin Falk

Benjamin Falk took this and at least one other reclining photo of Sandow.

 

Hercules Rear II

The club Herr Sandow is holding again harkens to the Classical Hercules motif.

 

Sarony

New York photographer Napoleon Sarony is generally regarded as tops when it came to capturing images of Eugen Sandow.  This isn't even the best example, but it is one I haven't yet posted.

 

Looking up

Ending with another fig leaf photo of Eugen Sandow looking up.

 

Dave Martin Day

The last time I did a full Dave Martin series, I used photos shared with us by Bryan B.

Today's come from my own collection, starting with this one of Bud Counts,

one of those models who never seems to have made a bad picture.

 

Sanford Alcorn

Although I could do without all the oil, I still like this picture of Sanford Alcorn.

 

Jim Hamilton

A wooded area near San Francisco was the setting for this photo of Jim Hamilton.

 

Mark Peterson

I've seen this model listed as both Mark Peterson and Paul Swenson.

Either way, he looks pretty impressive.

 

Fred Jensen

Dave Martin posed Fred Jensen squatting on a very rocky slope.

Fred looks happy to be there.

 

Bob Miller

It's one arm up and one arm down in this photograph of Bob Miller.

 

Gary Dexter

This hunk scouting the horizon is Gary Dexter.

 

Pete Lee

Here we see Pete Lee walking toward us with fists clenched.

 

Carl Wadlow

The tan lines draw our eyes to Carl Wadlow's midsection, not that we need any help.

Also, that bamboo screen appears in a number of Dave Martin's best photos.

 

Gene Stanley

A classic bayside location frames Gene Stanley in our final photo of the day.