Vintage Muscle Men

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Swimmers Day

I found today's photos in a stray folder in the swimming section of my collection. Not one of them had any provenance info, but we can guess in many cases. Thes men appear to be World War I soldiers, and I have a hunch they were Germans. The only uniform in sight might be a clue.

Swimming Hole I

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Mixed message

While most of these fellows are washing themselves and the car,

a pair of men at right seem to have gone out for a swim.

Leading the charge

Exhuberance is the key concept in this photo of men charging out of the water

toward the camera man. "And a grand time was had by all."

Sore thumb

This is what I call the "sore thumb" photo of the set. While it meets the thematic element of the series, it is radically different from the rest of the pictures. At 1968 it's more recent than the rest, and it's in color. The men seem to be lolling in the shallow water and showing off their assets.

After the swim

This group appears to have just finished a swim. One guy is toweling off

while another seems to be applying lotion to a friend's back.

Happy splashers

I get a feeling that these men were quite happy to be splashing their way to a swim.

Swimming Hole II

This photo of four guys at a rural swimming hole has two fellows

with differing modesty measures and two who just don't care.

Heading out

A group of men is heading out on a swim to that boat off shore.

I get a military vibe from this one.

Finns?

I have no documentation, but I get the feeling these men were WWII era Finns.

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Der Act, Part 1 - "New" items

In 1894 Max Koch and Otto Rieth photographed and published a large format portfolio photo book called Der Act, a German term for nude works sometimes spelled Der Akt. This will be a three parter, starting with some recent finds. The above model appears several time today.

Ledge and disc

Although I can't figure out the significance of the decorated disc,

I like the pose and overall setting of the photo.

Mirrors

We get three views of the solo model in this mirror shot.

Heid model?

This model resembles one who worked for Herman Heid around the same time Der Act was made. It would not be unheard of for a good model to work for two or more photographers.

Mirrors again

This is another example of the use of mirrors in Der Act.

In addition to the technique, I find the pose very attractive.

Italian?

The model in this one looks Italian, rather than German.

Der Act, Part 2 - Repeats

Part two consists of some repeats from the early days of this blog. I've always loved

the way the models and the mirrors work to make a fine image in this photo.

Twofer

When I posted this one almost five years ago, I was impressed with the clarity and the way the two models are arranged in the two images. What I still don't know is if these were published side by side or separately in the original edition of Der Act. Trust me, I've looked and looked.

Two versions, one "new"

I'm including the image above in the repeat section for two reasons. First, I think it's quite good, and second, Koch and Rieth did a similar clothed version which I recently found and is below.