Between November 30 and October 13 of 1938, a young man named Joe Daetroyles posed nude for James E. Davis. Today I'm posting six images from those sessions, starting with the earliest.
Sunday, June 14, 2026
Two Versions
Mr. Smith did two versions of this one. Perhaps the one below was a preliminary sketch.
G-Rated
In our final image of Joe Daetroyles, James Davis' shift towards
the more abstract in his art work is noticeable.
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.
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.
Gregory
The model here is known only as Gregory, and he posed for several of David Hockney's drawings.
Los Angeles
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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.
Clifford Oettinger, Part 2 - All the others
A fairly reliable source says that the first model in part two, Don Fuller, posed for this photo by Cliff Oettinger. I thought Mr. Fuller was a West Coast model, so I'm not so sure about that.
Jim Park
I was tempted to tone down the glare in this shot of Jim Park, but I left it as I found it.
Foursome
Closing out Clifford Oetting day with a lakeside photo of four bodybuilders.
My source says the first three (l-r) are Don van Fletteren, Jim Park,
and Vic Seipke, but no name was given for the man at far right.
The picture was made at Oak Street Beach in Chicago.
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