Happy guy

At this final stop in the series, we have a guy whose happiness might only be matched by Leroy D.

He's wearing his house slippers in the yard with the lawn furniture.

 

Vacation

 Travel Time

After a long break due to Covid and other factors, I am going to be traveling for the next several weeks.  There is plenty of material in the queue, so daily postings will continue.  I will not, however, be able to respond to messages and comments as quickly as usual.  I'll get to them as I can.  I have a new laptop, so maintenance won't be a problem.

Labor Day

Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer, and I always do a worker theme series for it.

This year we start with a slightly bored looking gardener.

 

This very pleasant looking worker is George Dana by Colt.

 

Farmer John

Farmer John proudly salutes us with his hat atop his Ford tractor.

 

The best way to pick tomatoes

Despite the restrained nudity, I really like this shot of a man picking tomatoes.

 

Probably Finns

I'm only guessing here, but given the log construction and the look of the men, I'd say these are 

World War II Finns.  They look like they've had a swim after a hard day's work.

 

Chopping wood

I found this one during the now legendary Sack of Tumblr,

and as usual, that means I have no story.

 

Bart

This came to me labeled as Bart from Man's Image.  It's clearly staged and looks like late 1970s.  Google was no help when I tried to figure out if it was from a magazine or a coffee table book.

 

Scumbeast puzzler

For some reason I've never figured out, Mr. Scumbeast labeled this photo "Vini, vidi, vici."  It helpfully has the location, Montauk Point on Long Island, but the carpenter's name is marked out.

 

Not from Wichita

The Wichita Lineman never looked like this, at least while on the job.  The total lack 

of gear (and shoes) tells me that this was done on a lark and not by a real lineman.

 

Worker or murderer?

I don't know if our last guy is an intense worker or a demented chainsaw murderer.  The type 

of safety mechanisms on his saw date from around 1980 according to my friend Tino.

 

Blacksmith Day

While editing material for tomorrow's Labor Day, I thought of including a photo of a blacksmith.  Then I realized that I had dozens of them, so I'm giving them their day as a pre-Labor Day set.

We begin with a different view of two Muybridge men I've posted  here before.

 

Strength

I wish I knew something about his photo of a very study looking smith.

 

Three Smiths

This is Three Smiths from 1932 by Nylund in Helsinki.

 

There's always one guy

What's wrong with this picture?  Well, all the men are either 

blacksmiths or farriers, except for the carpenter at front.

 

Farrier

Technically, this man is a farrier, but there is a lot of overlap between that trade 

and blacksmithing.  This is another Muybridge sequence, and the horse was possibly 

used in some motion studies.  And speaking of horses, they tend to be rather calm and 

cooperative while being shod.  I really believe that the equines on the ranch 

where I grew up appreciated the protection the shoes gave their hooves.

 

1907

This Danish lithograph looks modern, but it was dated by a reputable website at 1907.

 

Convincing

Although staged in Muybridge's studio/laboratory, 

this elderly man at the anvil is quite realistic.

 

Two views of Picault's Blacksmith

I made this composite to show two sides of The Blacksmith by Emile Picault.

 

"New" version

I posted a different view from this same Muybridge sequence about five weeks ago.

The model always gets a good comment or three.  His mustache is quite cute.

 

This one's for Leroy

The smith in this undated photo is fully dressed, but he still impresses.

Leroy D., this one's for you . . . and me.  I'm a pushover for a hefty dude in bib overalls.

 

David Hockney

David Hockney (born 1937) is one of the most influential British artists of the 20th Century.

Best known for his pop art, we will naturally focus on his male nude work.  Before we delve 

into that, however, let's take a look at Mr. Hockney sans his clothes.  The photo above 

was taken in 1976 by R.B. Kitaj who used it to help do the art work shown below.

 

David

Our first David Hockney work is David from 1975.

 

Peter

Quite a few of Hockney's models are listed on the works by just their given names.

In this case, it's Peter from 1969.

 

Peter Schlesinger

This is Peter Schlesinger from 1967.

 

Gregory

This is Gregory from 1978.

 

Shower

Beverly Hills was the setting for "Man in the Shower."

 

Duo

David Hockney called this 1966 drawing of an unidentified couple "In the Dull Village."

 

Richard Neville

1971 was the year Richard Neville posed for this one.

 

Mark

This is another of Hockney's models only listed by first name.

He's Mark from New York, 1975.

 

Quinten Crisp

The final David Hockney drawing in our series is also the earliest chronologically.

Quentin Crisp posed for it in 1960, and the style is quite a contrast to Hockney's later work.

 

Jack Mitchell Day

Today it's back to the 70s (mostly) with photographer Jack Mitchell.

We start with swimmer and all around athlete George Krasowski.

 

 

Joe Dallesandro

This is one of three photos of Joe Dallesandro in my Jack Mitchell collection.

"A hustle here, a hustle there, New York City was the place where

they said hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side."

 

Louis Falco

Choreographer and dancer Louis Falco give us a nice rear view.

 

Gary Karr

Double bass virtuoso Gary Karr posed with his instrument for Jack Mitchell.

Too bad we don't get to see his other instrument.

 

Don Lopez

An uncoventional pose gives Don Lopez a bent look.

 

Brahm

A model known only as "Brahm" appeared in a number of Jack Mitchell's photos.

Although it looks like a montage, my source says that it's a double exposure.

 

Milton Dean

Milton Dean posed for this double exposure using a leaf pattern.

 

Brian Poer

Jack Mitchel published two photos of dancer Brian Poer on a bed.

I posted the other one here some time ago.

 

Terrence McNally

This is Tony Award winning playwright Terrence McNally,\

and the photo appeared in After Dark magazine.

 

Our last Jack Mitchell model is unidentified, something unusual

 since most of the photographer's work is well recorded.

My source described him simply as a dancer.

 

PaJaMa Double Feature, Part 1 - Photos from the general collection

I'm posting a PaJaMa double feature today, with the first half being from my general collection and the second half from the Smithsonian donation of Margaret Hoening French.  We start with a very interesting photo of Glenway Wescott that combines his nice body with shadows and a drape.

 

Mel Fellini

This is a study for a painting called The Sea.  The model is Mel Fellini, 

and I'm still trying to figure out how this pose might relate to the sea.

 

Jose Martinez

Jose Martinez posed before a beach dune in 1945.

His tan lines are interesting.

 

Provincetown

This photo of Paul Cadmus (left) and George Tooker was made at Provincetown in 1947.

 

Jensen Yow

I really like the mirror effect in this photo of Jensen Yow, but I'm not sure about the provenance.  It came to me labeled PaJaMa, 1950, but I'm not sure they were still calling themselves that by then.

 

PaJaMa, Part 2 - the Smithsonial Donation

Part two of our PaJaMa double feature is made up of photographs from a box Margaret Hoening French donated to the Smithsonian after her husband Jared's death.  Surprisingly for that noble institution, the collection is not well curated.  My guess is that she simply handed them over, and no one asked her to annotate them.  Perhaps they didn't notice that the only information was in the fact that they were grouped by year.  Of course, some of the characters in them are recognizable, but many are not.  We start with what I assume to be an interesting picture of Jared French.

 

Derriere and shadow

It's hard to know if the interesting effect of the shadow and the offset position of the model are intentional here.  In the hundreds of photos in this particular collection, many have a slapdash appearance, with poor focus, parts of figures cut off, and thrown together backdrops.  Some have speculated that the indoor photos were studies for various PaJaMa paintings and drawings.  Plus, we should also remember that the group was not known primarily for photography.

 

Jared II

This picture of Jared French is more typical of the quality of the Smithsonian donation.

There are literally scores of nude photos of him in that collection.