Close-up: Taste in Models

I’m wrapping each month with a “Close-up”—basically me throwing a question out there and seeing what comes back. Don’t be shy…drop a comment and join the conversation. You can also email me your response at bushnstache@gmail.com.

Today’s topic: Taste in Models

I'm going to end May with something fun and easy.

A lot of the comments boil down to, "Number 3 is my favorite," or "I'd take the guy in the boots." I get it. I do the same thing.

So this month I'm curious: what do you look for in a model?

I'm not necessarily talking about the kind of man you'd date or marry. I mean the guys in these photos—the ones we admire from afar and project all sorts of fantasies onto.

Do you like athletic types? Boy-next-door faces? Big muscles? Body hair? Mustaches? A great smile? Rugged and masculine? Pretty and beautiful? Tall? Short? Young? Mature? Something else entirely?

If it helps, feel free to name a favorite model as an example and tell us what makes him stand out for you, but that's not required. A sentence or two is plenty.

There are no wrong answers and no judgment here. I'm just curious where everybody lands.

Echoes - Part 3

Part 2 ended with photographers practically recreating each other’s poses, and today we push that idea one step further into direct conversations between photography and painting. 

Seated young man with dark curly hair in profile with curved spine: 1. Young Male Nude Seated Beside the Sea - Hippolyte Flandrin - 1836; 2. Wilhelm von Gloeden - 1902

In these pairings, photographers clearly seem to be referencing older artworks — Renaissance paintings, Symbolism, classical sculpture, Saint Sebastian imagery, and other well-known artistic tropes that have carried queer undertones for generations. In one case, it even feels possible the photograph may have influenced the painting instead of the other way around.

St. Sebastian the martyr: 3. Martyrdom of St. Sebastian - Luca Signorelli - 1498; 

4. St. Sebastian - Pieter Pauwel Rubens - 1614; 5. Gene Meyer - Frederick Kovert - 1940s

What fascinates me is how naturally vintage male photography slips into these older visual traditions. A photographer like Wilhelm von Gloeden borrowing from classical painting doesn’t feel strange at all because the whole physique world was already obsessed with mythology, sculpture, athletic beauty, and idealized youth. 

Adam: 6. The Creation of Adam - Michelangelo - 1512; 7. Charles Atlas - Edwin Townsend - 1930s; 

8. Gene Meyer - Frederick Kovert - 1940s

And later photographers kept doing the same thing — sometimes subtly, sometimes almost shot-for-shot. Saint Sebastian alone may be one of the most recycled queer-coded images in Western art history.

David: 9. Statue of David - Michelangelo - 1504; 10. Charles Atlas - Edwin Townsend - 1930s; 

11. Norman Tousley - Dave Martin - 1950s

The more I look at these connections, the less interested I become in questions of “originality.” Art has always evolved through imitation, apprenticeship, admiration, theft, influence, tribute, rivalry, and reinvention. 

Figure in foreground (back side) watching men shower: 12. Douche (shower) - Boris Ignatovitch - 1932; 13. After the Battle - Aleksandr Deyneka - 1944

Vintage male photography is no exception. These artists weren’t creating in isolation — they were building a long chain together, one beautiful naked guy at a time.

Two men sharing bathroom, one standing at sink (back side), the other kneeling in the tub (profile): 

14. Le Bain (The Bath) - Paul Cadmus - 1951; 15. Untitled - Bill Costa - 1997

Thoughts?

Please chime in on any additions or corrections.

Echoes - Part 2

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Echoes - Part 1

Lately I’ve been going down a rabbit hole comparing vintage male nude photographs that strongly resemble one another — sometimes almost identically, other times more like riffs on the same visual idea.

Black men standing (back side): 1. Armor II - Herbert List - 1934; 2. Sudanese Nude - George Hoyningen-Huene - 1937

 The deeper I got into my recent Weimar Republic posts, the more I realized how connected these artists actually were. Herbert List clearly influenced photographers like Bruce Weber and Robert Mapplethorpe. List himself was influenced by Swiss sculptor and photographer Karl Geiser. 

Black men seated (back side): 3. Male Nude (Back Side) - Horst P. Horst - 1952; 4. Ajitto - Robert Mapplethorpe - 1981

And suddenly you start seeing this whole chain of artists quietly borrowing, quoting, studying, imitating, and reshaping each other’s work across generations.

Young blonde men facing each other in the water: 5. Good Friends - Herbert List - 1936; 6. Christian and Jason, Bear Pond - Bruce Weber - 1989

Art critics sometimes treat derivative work like a dirty word, but honestly I see it more like jazz. One artist riffs on another. Somebody picks up an idea and bends it slightly sideways. That’s basically what happened with Cubism when Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque practically started painting each other’s paintings until something new emerged. 

Young men flipping in the water: 7. Untitled - Herbert List - 1958; 8. Ray, John, and Eric, Bear Pond - Bruce Weber - 1989

Photography works that way too. In this first set we begin with black male backsides echoing each other across decades, then move into young men lounging, swimming, and hanging around oceans and cities like variations on the same dream.

Three young men against a wall in shorts: 9. Römisches Model (Roman Model) - Karl Geiser - 1930s; 10. At Newport - Max Dupain - 1952

Some similarities here may be direct references. Others may just reflect artists swimming in the same cultural waters at the same time. Either way, I love seeing how these images “talk” to one another — sometimes separated by continents, sometimes by fifty years.

Muscled shirtless teen pair: 11. Ted Bentley and Dick Kreutel - Bob Mizer - 1950s; 12. Stef - Danny Fitzgerald - 1963

Thoughts?

Please fill in any missing info or corrections.  Most of this info is found online, which can be off.

Warner

Fresh off my recent Physical Culture post, today we move from the gym floor to the camera studio with Russ Warner (1917–2004), one of several photographers—including Edwin F. Townsend (1891–1967), Lon of New York, Bruce Bellas (1909–1974), and Bob Mizer (1922–1992)—who helped turn the bodybuilder into one of the defining figures of physique photography. 

1. Russ Warner - Waikiki Beach, Hawaii

If Eugen Sandow (1867–1925) and Bernarr Macfadden (1868–1955) helped create the modern physique, photographers like Warner helped create its image.

2. Warner and Unknown Model looking at Muscle Power and Your Physique magazine covers

Warner started out as a bodybuilder himself before picking up a camera after World War II. His photographs appeared throughout the bodybuilding and physique magazines of the 1950s and 1960s, and he photographed many of the era's biggest names, including Jack LaLanne (1914–2011), Steve Reeves (1926–2000), and Ed Fury (1928–2023). 

3. Warner photographing Jack Lalanne in his San Francisco studio

4. Jack Thomas and Jack Lalanne - Russ Warner outdoor shot - Lalanne reportedly asked all the photographers he posed nude for to give him the negatives when he started the Jack Lalanne show in 1951.  All agreed except Warner refused.

He was also known for a dramatic lighting technique that wrapped bright highlights around a model's body, making muscles seem to leap out of a black background. Like many photographers of the period, he sold photographs through the mail, navigated censorship battles, and found himself working in that blurry space where fitness, commerce, and erotic fantasy all started sharing the same locker room. 

5. Warner photographing Jack Lalanne, Norman Tousley, and Jimmy Payne in his SanFrancisco studio 1950s.

6. Norman Tousley - Russ Warner - 1950s - when Warner's studio was raided in 1955, these images of Tousley were discovered and he was fired from his position as Lieutenant of the Oakland (Alameda) Fire Department. *Jerry (VintageMuscleMen) just informed me Tousley fought this decision and was reinstated on the grounds he was promised the genitals would be blacked out. Thanks Jerry!

That "something more" wasn't exactly a secret. Sexologist Alfred Kinsey (1894–1956) recognized early on that physique magazines were already functioning as part of gay culture long before openly gay publications were possible. For a lot of men, these magazines offered a first glimpse of desire, community, and the possibility that they weren't alone. That's worth celebrating.

7. Clarence Ross being lit by Russ Warner.

8. Russ Warner in suit and tie with Clarence Ross in white t-shirt

But there's another side to the story too. The same movement that gave us some of our earliest gay imagery also helped convince generations of men that they needed to be younger, leaner, bigger, smoother, hairier, more muscular—or somehow "better" than they already were. 

9. Clarence Ross shaking hands with Russ Warner

Spend enough time around gay pools, gyms, or bars and you still see traces of it. Looking at Warner's work today, I find myself feeling both admiration and caution. The photographs are beautiful. The history matters. But some baggage came along for the ride too.

10. Chris Dickerson - Russ Warner

Thoughts?

Admittedly it is difficult to verify photographer credits for some of these images as Bruce Bellas and Dave Martin and others also shot many of the same bodybuilders and had similar styles, so if you catch mistakes let me know.

Physical Culture

The word “physique” is right there in physique photography, so today I’m backing up a bit to look at the physical culture movement that helped set this art form as we know it into motion. 

1. Eugen Sandow - Benjamin Falk - German bodybuilder/strongman, put on strongman shows, posed for photographers, painters, sculptors, considered the Grecian and Roman physical ideal 1890s-1920s

2. Bernarr Macfadden - 1905 - American, Father of Physical Culture, Discovered Charles Atlas, began creating bodybuilding "physique" contests in US 1903, published Physical Culture magazine 1899-1951

From Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778–1852) and the German Turnverein gymnastics movement to Freikörperkultur (FKK), or “free body culture,” a lot of these ideas were already floating around Germany before they exploded into American fitness, bodybuilding, and eventually beefcake photography.

3. Joseph Pilates - German physical trainer, gymnast, bodybuilder, martial artist, student of Rudolf Laban in Germany and trained famous dance pioneers including George Balanchine and Martha Graham 1920s-1960s, there are currently Pilates studios in every major city in the U.S.

4. Charles Atlas - Edwin Townsend - bodybuilder and model, inspired by Eugen Sandow, competed in Bernarr Macfadden's Physical Culture contests in early 1920s winning World's Most Handsome Man and World's Most Perfectly Developed Man, launched mail order "Dynamic Tension" exercise method in 1922, discovered Tony Sansone

To keep this simple, I see two big branches: fitness as health and wellness, and fitness as beauty, display, and desire. On the wellness side, you get figures like Frederick Alexander (1869–1955), Rudolf Laban (1879–1958), Joseph Pilates (1883–1967), Irmgard Bartenieff (1900–1981), and Moshe Feldenkrais (1904–1984) — all circling ideas of posture, balance, breath, movement, and body awareness. I’ve studied all of these methods in some way, so this branch feels personal to me too. It also connects directly to German Expressionist dance and American modern dance.

5. Siegmund "Sig" Klein - Earl Forbes - 1949 - German bodybuilder/strongman, magazine publisher and gym owner, worked with Eugen Sandow 1920s-1970s

6. Tony Sansone - Earl Forbes - 1930s - Italian-American bodybuilder, model, and dancer, trained with Bernarr Macfadden and Charles Atlas as a teenager, Atlas called him "The Most Beautiful Man in America," sold mail order photographs of himself, owned 3 gyms, Steve Reeves was among his members

The other branch is where things get meatier. Eugen Sandow (1867–1925) turns the male body into a public spectacle. Bernarr Macfadden (1868–1955) turns fitness into magazines, contests, and publishing. Charles Atlas (1892–1972) turns it into a mail-order transformation fantasy. Tony Sansone (1905–1987) turns the body into art, celebrity, and photographs for sale. Jack LaLanne (1914–2011), Steve Reeves (1926–2000), and Ed Fury (1928–2023) carry that same ideal into gyms, television, movies, and physique modeling.

7. Jack Lalanne (Francois Henri Lalanne)- Bob Mizer - 1940s - French-American bodybuilder and model, considered "Godfather of Fitness," had the Jack Lalanne Show 1951-1985, opened US first modern health club in Oakland, CA, at 21 years old that was eventually licensed to Bally Fitness, inspired Steve Reeves and Arnold Schwartznegger

And that’s where we start sliding right into the world of Mizer, Bellas, Kovert, and Lon of New York. The body goes from something to study, to something to build, to something to sell, to something to desire. Health, beauty, commerce, and erotic fantasy all start sharing the same locker room.

8. Steve Reeves inspiring a group of boys - 1950s - American, professional bodybuilder and actor, Mr America 1947, Mr World 1948, Mr Universe 1950.

9. Ed Fury (Rupert Edmund Holovchik) - Bruce Bellas - 1950s - American bodybuilder, actor, and model, worked with Bob Mizer and Bruce Bellas.

10. Alonzo Hanagan - Lon of New York Artistic Physique Photography ad - NYC - 1950s

Feedback?

There are rumors that Sandow may have been gay or bisexual, and some speculation about Lalanne and his relationship with Jack Thomas being romantic, but nothing definitive.  If you know anything about this history or any of these figures let me know in the comments.

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day I’m tipping my hat to the long-running military thread inside vintage physique photography — a world full of soldiers, Marines, Army boys, and enough uniforms, boots, and “following orders” fantasy to fill an entire archive. 

1. Unknown Model with amazing buns and tree trunk legs.

2. Unknown Model with iconic 'stache and generous package

I already did a full sailor post a while back (honestly somebody still needs to write the definitive book on sailors and gay culture...musicals like South Pacific and On the Town alone could keep you busy for weeks), so today we move through some of the other branches beginning with a stunning modern Marine shot, then an old black-and-white serviceman portrait, Charlie Day, Tico Patterson, Blue Max, Curtis, Richard E. Lee, Joe Hill, and Bob Moore all reporting for duty.

3. Charlie Day aka Bob Wilson

4. Blue Max and Tico Patterson laying hands on each other - Bob Mizer

I want to be clear though: this post isn’t making light of Memorial Day or comparing military service to physique photography in some simplistic way. I have family and friends who served from Vietnam through Desert Storm to the present day, and I genuinely respect the sacrifice behind this holiday. 

5. Tony Hexum at ease - Bob Mizer

6. Curtis out of his fatigues (see post March 13 - Boots)

7. Phil Cousteau open fly

8. Bob Roy in hat, gloves, and boots

What interests me here is the overlap between military history, masculinity, queer history, and fantasy — especially during periods when many gay and bisexual men served quietly while hiding huge parts of themselves under systems like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Those men existed in every generation whether history acknowledged them or not.

9. Erich Zeppelin pantless facing forward

10. Richard E Lee pantless facing away

And honestly, the military fantasy itself taps into a lot of old masculine archetypes: courage, loyalty, discipline, strength, protectiveness, honor, camaraderie. That’s why these images still carry such charge decades later. 

11. Joe Hill following orders

12. Bob More aka Bob Moore rising to attention

The men in these photos may or may not have been actual servicemen, but the fantasy clearly resonated deeply inside gay culture and still does now. So today, alongside honoring those who served and died, I’m also raising a glass to the gay and bi men woven quietly through that same history — the ones who fought, served, loved, desired, survived, and often had to keep huge parts of themselves hidden.

Thoughts?

Please help ID #1 and #2 and and offer any other info on this set or anything about the military theme in homoerotica.