MALE NUDES + HOMOEROTIC ART
Thu, Oct 31, 2024 12:00PM EDT
Lot 45
Mike Miksche AKA Steve Masters (American, 1925-1964)
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000
Bid Increments
| Price | Bid Increment |
|---|---|
| $0 | $10 |
| $100 | $25 |
| $500 | $50 |
| $1,000 | $100 |
| $2,500 | $250 |
| $5,000 | $500 |
| $10,000 | $1,000 |
| $25,000 | $2,500 |
| $50,000 | $5,000 |
| $100,000 | $10,000 |
'Wanted!' Charcoal on trace vellum. The figure to the left appeared in illustrations Miksche did for Physique Pictorial Magazine (Bob Mizer, editor) perhaps this scene appeared in Physique Pictorial, as well. 13 x 17".
Mike Miksche's life ended abruptly at the age of 39, when his double life was exposed. He committed suicide by jumping into the East River. After his suicide Miksche's wife discovered and destroyed the majority of his homoerotic work, leaving a small collection in the Kinsey Institute, with very few other known works surviving. In all likelihood this drawing was published in "Physique Pictorial" and remains an exceptionally rare original work by this influential and controversial artist, who by all accounts was a radical and far ahead of his time.
Mike Miksche, better known as "Steve Masters," lived a whirlwind life as a WW2 pilot, illustrator, model for the Marlboro Man campaign, illustrator for Sports Illustrated, sitter for George Platt Lynes (1907 - 1955) and focus of the early work of Alfred Kinsey of the Kinsey Institute. Beginning his career as a flight captain in the US Air Force Miksche later became an embedded part of New York's underground gay S&M scene throughout the 1950s and 60s, and would chronicle his experiences and fantasies through illustrations, while maintaining his career as a successful fashion illustrator. Miksche became a subject of research for Alfred Kinsey throughout the latter half of the 1950s. Miksche was filmed by Kinsey performing sadomasochistic sex acts which are now in the Kinsey Institutes archives. Miksche's career as an erotic artist began contemporaneously with Tom of Finland, both submitting their illustrations of muscle-clad, working class men to "Physique Pictorial" around the same time in the mid 1950s. Miksche's more angular, linear style, had an almost mannerist approach to anatomy and cloth, drawing from his trained hand as a fashion illustrator. He executed in a variety of styles under multiple pseudonyms (e.g. Steve Masters and Kurt), including work in cut paper, pulling from models from his memories of military service and pornographic magazines. One Mischke work in particular in the Kinsey Institute, draws on the same image that was also appropriated by the artist Gran Fury decades later in the "Read My Lips" graphic (see lot 51).
Mike Miksche's life ended abruptly at the age of 39, when his double life was exposed. He committed suicide by jumping into the East River. After his suicide Miksche's wife discovered and destroyed the majority of his homoerotic work, leaving a small collection in the Kinsey Institute, with very few other known works surviving. In all likelihood this drawing was published in "Physique Pictorial" and remains an exceptionally rare original work by this influential and controversial artist, who by all accounts was a radical and far ahead of his time.
Mike Miksche, better known as "Steve Masters," lived a whirlwind life as a WW2 pilot, illustrator, model for the Marlboro Man campaign, illustrator for Sports Illustrated, sitter for George Platt Lynes (1907 - 1955) and focus of the early work of Alfred Kinsey of the Kinsey Institute. Beginning his career as a flight captain in the US Air Force Miksche later became an embedded part of New York's underground gay S&M scene throughout the 1950s and 60s, and would chronicle his experiences and fantasies through illustrations, while maintaining his career as a successful fashion illustrator. Miksche became a subject of research for Alfred Kinsey throughout the latter half of the 1950s. Miksche was filmed by Kinsey performing sadomasochistic sex acts which are now in the Kinsey Institutes archives. Miksche's career as an erotic artist began contemporaneously with Tom of Finland, both submitting their illustrations of muscle-clad, working class men to "Physique Pictorial" around the same time in the mid 1950s. Miksche's more angular, linear style, had an almost mannerist approach to anatomy and cloth, drawing from his trained hand as a fashion illustrator. He executed in a variety of styles under multiple pseudonyms (e.g. Steve Masters and Kurt), including work in cut paper, pulling from models from his memories of military service and pornographic magazines. One Mischke work in particular in the Kinsey Institute, draws on the same image that was also appropriated by the artist Gran Fury decades later in the "Read My Lips" graphic (see lot 51).