Vintage Muscle Men

Saturday, June 13, 2026

R.I.P. David Hockney

When I heard of the death of David Hockney yesterday, I immediately ditched my planned series for today so I could replace it with a tribute. Openly gay from the very beginning of his career in the early 1960s, he pushed back against a lot of barriers. One art critic even said he restored the human form to modern art, and his portrayals of gay men were groundbreaking. The 1969 photo above by John Kasmin shows Mr. Hockney (left0 with Ossie Clark and Patrick Proktor near St. Tropez, France.

The art world and the gay world have lost a giant.

Man in Shower

This is Man in Shower, Beverly Hills.

Mo Asleep

Here we see Mo Asleep from 1971.

Peter Powis

Mr. Hockney did this drawing of Peter Powis in 1967.

Poster

This is a poster for a 1968 gallery show in Berlin of Mr. Hockney's prints.

California

David Hockney first visited California in 1964, and it immediately influenced his work. This acrylic painting on canvas was made the following year, and is considered pioneering in style.

Warhol

Fellow artist Andy Warhol took this photo of David Hockney.

Gregory

The model here is known only as Gregory, and he posed for several of David Hockney's drawings.

Robert

This one is Roger, New York from 1975.

Los Angeles

Although he called this one Nude Boy, Los Angeles, the conventional wisdom is

that all of David Hockney's models were of legal age when they posed.

Tighty Whities

This tighty whities item is a bit enigmatic. I can't tell if the guy

being held up is injured, drunk, or something else.

Mapplethorpe

Closing the David Hockney series with a photo of him yawning by Robert Mapplethorpe.

The striped tie and dressy casual look were part of his his trademark style.

R.I.P., Mr. Hockney. You broke though some big cultural walls.

Friday, June 12, 2026

Clifford Oettinger, Part 1 - Glenn Bishop

Today we have a two part series on the work of Clifford Oettinger, a Chicago based photographer whose work can be hard to find. Based on the sheer number of photos of him in Mr. Oettinger's portfolio, I'd say that Glenn Bishop was one of his favorite, or at least most willing, models. Part one is all Glenn, and no, you won't be seeing him in one of his Dorothy Lamour lookalike swimsuits.

Lakeside Derriere

For whatever reason, there don't seem to be too many derriere photos of Glenn Bishop.

That's surprising since it was a reliable way to get nudity past the censorship laws.

Dead Tree

Mr. Oettinger used this large dead tree in several photo shoots,

but this photograph of Glenn Bishop is perhaps the best.

Woodland Stream

I have several photos from this session with a woodland stream, and they are all good.

Cover Man

Body Beautiful was an "art" magazine that was mainly pitched to gays. Glenn Bishop was described in the accompanying cover article as "teen America's favorite bodybuilder." It should be noted that Mr. Bishop won several titles and appeared on the covers of mainstream physical culture magazines.