A stroll through 20th Century art . . . by decades

Today we will take a stroll though 20th Century art, in order by decade.

We start with Torso of a Male Nude by Felix Vallatton from 1906.

 

Leopoldo Barreda y Fontana

This may (or may not) be a 1919 academic piece by Leopoldo Barreda y Fontana.

 

Eric B. George

Running Bathers was painted by Eric B. George in 1927.

 

William Horace Littlefield

1933 was when William Horace Littlefield completed this untitled work that looks like a boxer.

 

Alexander Deyneka

Alexander Deyneka painted Shower After the Battle in 1942.

 

Bernard Perlin

This is Walter, 1953 by Bernard Perlin.

 

Paul Cadmus

Paul Cadmus is best known for his work with PaJaMa in the period of 1935-1955,

but his career extended into the early 1990s.  This is a work from 1965.

 

Richard Gable

Here we have yet another untitled, but dated work.

This one is by Richard Gable from 1978.

 

Wayne Douglas Quinn

This interesting 1980 piece is by Wayne Douglas Quinn and curiously untitled.

 

Arne Charles Besser

Our last piece of 20th Century male nude art is an untitled, undated piece by Arne Charles Besser, 1935-2012.  It was found among the painter's personal collection of his own work and sold

 at an estate sale.  The auction house that listed it estimated it to be 1970s or 1980s.

 

Chubby Day

Leroy D. will no doubt be happy to know that today is Chubby Day.

We start with the proud owner of an early Toyota Land Cruiser.

 

Ollie

We get a tip of the hat from Oliver Hardy in his onesie swim suit.

 

Striding? Not really.

Although he looks like he's striding toward the food serving line,

this Auistralian nudist is actually dancing on the grass.

 

Camping

Setting up a camp tent seems to be the objective of this hefty fellow.

 

Rolling

This is from a group of nudist photos showing men working on the grounds of their camp.

In this one, they were rolling a lawn with a heavy cylinder.  Maybe they had gophers.

 

Via Brian E.

Frequent contributor Brian E sent me this photo of a chubby archer.

Thanks, as always, Brian!

 

Curly and Friends

Curly Howard, aka Jerome Lester Horowitz, was my favorite of the three stooges, and (believe it or not) one of my nascent gay boy crushes.  He loved dogs and appears with two of his favorites here.

 

Australian

An Australian nudist magazine showed this guy and a group of friends playing frisbee golf, 

a game where you have to hit targets with a frisbee rather than hit balls into holes.

 

Profile

This one makes me think of the opening of The Alfred Hitchcock Show.  My favorite episode 

was the one where Elsa Lanchester beat her husband to death with a frozen lamb chop 

and then served the murder weapon to the investigating police officers.

 

And finally, a soldier

Our last chubby photo is a World War I German soldier.  Something tells me he was 

in a support or procurement unit, probably one having to do with food.

I posted this on my old tumblr under military men.

 

Models Day

This is Models Day on the blog, and we start with a guy on a tilted plank.

I'm sure nobody ever had to tell him to grow a pair.

 

Crowd I

 Despite the fact that the model's crotch is apparently covered, this crowded all female art class would have been quite risque in the late 19th Century.  The clothed male is probably the instructor.

Literal interpretation

This Mid-20th Century sculptor is going for a literal interpretation of the model.

 

Bacchanalian Scene

This Bacchanalian scene is my personal favorite of the day.

 

Another class

The studio where this art class is being conducted looks like the inside of a barn, 

but that wasn't at all unusual.  Note the presence of multiple electrical lighting fixtures.

 

Early 80s

This is supposed to be another all female drawing class, this time from the early 1980s.

 

Crowd II

Here's another crowded art class, and this time I enlarged the model for you below.

 

Wow!

When I first saw this photo, all I could say was "Wow!"

 

One erect and one limp

This model has one fist firmly erect while to other lookks a bit limp.  Note the 

chalk marks by his feet, the wood stove, and the canvases in the corner.

 

No arms?

Our last studio model looks great but the sculptor has omitted his arms.

Maybe he was making fake antiquities for extra money.