A collegiate African American model, less common in the artist's oeuvre and physique photography. Photographer's stamp verso. Tipped to board. 5 x 4" (photograph). 9 3/4 x 7 3/4" (overall).

Provenance:

Property of a Massachusetts collector.

Notes:

Bruce of Los Angeles, working primarily in the 1940s-1960s is notable for his inclusion of a diverse array of physique models in his photography, as seen here with this two photograph of a black male models at Muscle Beach.

Bruce Bellas, better known by his alias Bruce of Los Angeles, was born in rural Nebraska in 1909. In the late 1940s, he relocated westward to California in order to fully pursue a career as a professional photographer. While in California, he began taking pictures of athletes and bodybuilders most notably on Muscle Beach in Venice near the Santa Monica Pier. Immersion in this culture of competitive bodybuilding gradually led Bellas to concentrate exclusively on the sculptural possibilities of the male body.

Alongside Al Urban and Russ Warner, Bellas rapidly established himself as one of the leading physique photographers in the postwar United States. In comparison to his peers, Bellas’ approach to photography prioritized the male figure exclusively, using natural lighting and minimal staging or props to emphasize physical form and muscular detail. Through his physique photography, Bellas became one of the defining pioneers of the beefcake genre and a key documentarian of pre-Stonewall gay identity and culture.

Abrasion and loss on the model.

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