Physique photography

Physique photography originated with the physical culture and bodybuilding movements of the early 20th century, but was gradually co-opted by homosexual producers and consumers, who favoured increasingly homoerotic content.

Physique photography fell out of fashion toward the end of the 1960s, supplanted by increasingly explicit pornography as a result of loosening legal definitions of obscenity.

Images of muscular athletes and bodybuilders also became common fodder in the wider press, and in visual media like postcards, which experienced a boom in popularity between 1900 and 1920.

[3] Gay physique photographers working during this era included Edwin F. Townsend, Earle Forbes, Robert Gebhart, Al Urban, Lon Hanagan, Lou Melan, Barton Horvath, and Dick Falcon (all but the last operating in New York City).

Compared to legitimate fitness magazines, they devoted their pages disproportionately to photography, including only perfunctory references to muscular development and exercises.

[6] During the heyday of physique photography, photographers around the world were generally unable to include frontal nudity in any photos that were to be published in books or magazines, due to legal prohibitions against obscenity.

Another practice was to doctor negatives or prints to add an "inked-in" posing strap to a nude photo, rendering it suitable for publication.

Others formed long-term (quasi-)romantic relationships with particular models, such as Bruce Bellas with Scotty Cunningham or Alonzo Hanagan and Raul Pacheco.

Many of the most prominent physique studios, such as those of Bruce Bellas and Lon of New York, started their own magazines, which essentially served as advertising catalogues.

During the early to mid 20th century, the US Post Office vigorously enforced the Comstock laws against sending obscene materials through the mail.

Most major photographers faced intimidating or arrest at various points in their career, with many, including Bob Mizer and John Barrington, being jailed as a result.

A 1950 photograph from physique studio Athletic Model Guild . Physique models were commonly photographed in "posing straps", the G-string -style undergarment worn here.
Eugen Sandow in 1894. Photographic depictions of the bodies of strongmen and athletes gained popularity through the early 20th century with the rise of the physical culture movement.
Photographs featuring frontal nudity such as this 1950s Bob Mizer photo could not be published, but were discreetly offered for sale directly to customers.