Today will be the second full series I have done on the work of Franz von Stuck (1863-1926), a German artist who was quite versatile in terms of media and style. He is best known for paintings and drawings, but he also was a very good sculptor, furniture designer, and poster artist. He also did book illustrations and a line of greeting cards. His home, Villa von Stuck, was furnished from top to bottom with items he designed ranging from place mats to tapestries to curtains and carpets. He was also not above getting naked and having some fun, as shown above. You have to love this guy.
Vintage Muscle Men
Showcasing vintage male photography, mostly nude. You must be 18 years of age or older to visit this blog! If you hold a copyright on any material shown on this blog, notify me, and it will be removed immediately.
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Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Adam and Eve, Two Takes
Snakes entwined with women (and sometimes men) are a recurrent theme in Franz von Stuck's work. Obviously, he wasn't about to let the Adam and Eve biblical fairy tale pass him by. Above, we have his 1920 painted version, and below, an 1893 relief sculpture. Eve is pretty much the same in both,
but we get two very different versions of Adam.
Athlete . . . or Atlas?
On the relatively rare occasions when von Stuck sculpted, he was very good at it. This post includes three views of The Athlete, which some observers have described as a different take on Atlas.
We start with a very well formed derriere view.
This version of a frontal view is OK, but the one below is better.
Spring Procession?
This is clearly labeled Spring Procession in a book of Franz von Stuck's work, but I can't find a painting by that name (in either English or German) anywhere. The only thing even close was a work called Bacchanalian Procession, and it does not have a male even vaguely resembling this.
Having said all that, I find it to be a perfectly fine stand alone work of art.
Study - Struggle for Women
After having previously posted the painting The Struggle for Women, I found this study for it.
I have to say I like it much better than the finished work shown again below.
Prometheus
Franz von Stuck painted Prometheus in 1926, and it reminds me in some ways of the work of Sasha Schneider. Von Stuck seems to have greatly perferred Classical over Biblical themes in his work.
Not academic
While this looks like typical 19th C. academic work, it is part of a collection of 20th C. studies that Franz von Stuck did for paintings. Many of those only vaguely resemble the finished works, and the curators of the website where I found this charcoal drawing did not reference a painting.
Monday, September 16, 2024
Jack Mitchell Day
It's Jack Mitchell day, and we start the set with Robert La Tourneaux from 1970.
He played Cowboy in Boys in the Band, and sadly, he died of AIDS in 1986.
Giancarlo Giannini
Although the focus of this blog is his male nudes, Jack Mitchell did some fine portrait work.
This sultry 1976 photo of Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini is a good example.
Curly Top
This one came with no info whatsoever, other than being by Jack Mitchell.
It might, however, be a rear view of Robert Lz Tourneaux.
Brahm
This handsome model is sometimes shown as Brahm and other times as Braham.
I'm sure he had more of a name than that, but I haven't been able to find it.
Kirk Peterson
Although my source didn't say so, I get the feeling that
Kirk Peterson was a dancer. The photo is from 1974.
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Physical Men 1880-1920
In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, an early wave of physical culture swept the world. Today we will look at some wrestlers, boxers, and strong men from that era. Our first image is the only unknown in today's series, and it's the April 1907 cover of Physical Culture.
Jenkins
Tom Jenkins was a three time American wrestling champion who lost his title to Frank Gotch
who appears in the next post in this series. Mr. Jenkins also lost to Georg Hackenschmidt
when he went after the world title. Despite this, his career was considered very successful,
and he went on to become a revered coach, mentor, and teacher.
Gotch
The first American to win the freestyle wrestling world championship, he defeated Georg Hackenschmidt (shown later in today's series) in 1908. The Hackenschmidt match was widely described has having been stolen by Gotch via fouls ignored by the referee. He died at age 40 in 1917, allegedly of syphillis, athough the coroner said it was uremic poisoning.
Jeffries
Jim Jeffries won the world heavyweight boxing championship in 1899.
The photo above is from 1910 when he lost to Jack Johnson.
Aberg and Lurich
Alexander Aberg (above) and Georg Lurich were Baltic Germans who were well known in pre-World War I wrestling circles, touring the world together. Caught up in the chaos of the Russian Revolution, they died of disease within weeks of each other in Southern Russia while trying to get to the West.
The townspeople buried them together in the same grave in a German cemetery.
Kop
When I do this sort of series, I often do a few searches to see if anything new has shown up online. This time, I discovered Petar Kop, a Serbian wrestler who worked mainly in the Balkans.
Kryloff
Although he did occasionally wrestle, Russian Piotr Kryloff was best known as a stong man
performer who broke chains, juggled 100 pound kettle bells, and pulled apart horseshoes.
Hackenschmidt
Here we see Georg Hackenschmidt in early middle age. He continued
to wrestle, operate a gym, and maintain his physique well into his 50s.
Jankowski
Ursus "Bear" Piotr Jankowski was an early 20th C. Polish wrestler who won
championships in his native land, Russia, Turkestan, and the Caucasus.
Whoever took the photo at right spelled his name wrong.
Muldoon
Our last post of the day is William Muldoon, the 1880 World Champion of Graeco-Roman style wrestling. This photo was said to have been made at the peak of his physical development.
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