Vintage Muscle Men

Friday, July 25, 2025

Richer's Professional Models, Part 1 - Known Quantities

I recently had to good fortune to find some "new" photos by Paul Richer in a French institution's archive. One group of those were labeled as professional models, some of whom were named. So today will be a two parter, starting with known models and moving on the unknow. First up is Raphael Colletti, whose beard and hair style made his face look square.

Francois Bianchi

Here we see Francois Bianchi in on of those "playing the castanets" poses.

Alexandre Valentin

Alexandre Valentin looks quite well proportioned from behind.

Adolphe Giraudon

This is Adolphe Giraudon in a classic pose with a staff.

Alonzo

Our final entry in the Richer known model category is a guy who went just

by Alonzo and was having a bad hair day when this photo was taken.

Richer's Professional Models, Part 2 - Unknowns

My source only had names for a bit less than half of Paul Richer's professional model portfolio, and given that they are a well regarded institution, that'l likely because Richer didn't record them. We begin Part Two with a man who not only posed nude for other photographers, but also has appeared here as the subject of several academic drawings. Surely someone knows his name.

Muscular rear

The muscles stand out nicely in this rear view of an unknown.

Familiar?

I wish we had a better look at this model's face because

I think he may have posed for at least one important painter.

Forlorn Gaze

We get a somewhat forlorn skyward gaze from this model.

Sandow used the same pose, only with a fig leaf.

Dramatic Pose

Our last unknown Paul Richer model looks as though he might have been both an athlete and a model. Such was not unheard of, and the dramatic pose really shows his muscles.

Thursday, July 24, 2025

Bryan B's Arax Photos

Today I will be posting ten photos by Arax of Paris generously sent to me by viewer Bryan B.

Most of today's models are unknown, despite multiple searches. More on that later.

We start with an unknown model in a pose that is a pure Arax classic.

Thank you, Bryan!

Jean Millet I

I've posted several other photos of Jean Millet in the past, and Bryan's contribution

included this and one other "new" picture that will appear later today.

Fending off

The model in this one seems to be fending off an attacker.

Castanet photo

This is another example of what I call the "playing the castanets pose."

They generally seem to do it standing up, however.

Posing strap

Here is an example of what feels like creeping censorship on the Google Images search function.

This benign posing strap photo produced the "This search can't be processed due to content

guidelines" notice. The same thing has been showing up on derriere shots and even photos

of men in trunks. I don't know if Google has gone prudish since they made a deal with

the devil Trump, or if their AI scanners are so shoddy they can't tell the difference.

Either way, I hope I don't find myself looking for a new blogging platform soon.

Meanwhile, I'd really like to see more of this model.

Jean Millet II

As promised, here is another picture of Jean Millet, with a staff this time.

Honore

I came up with a single name, Honore, for this model.

Modified Thinker

This unknown model gives us a different take on Rodin's The Thinker.

Pierre Fallais

I was able to identify this dramatically posed model as Pierre Fallais.

Almost had a name

I thought I had found a name for our final Arax model, but it

turned out to be another guy in exactly the same pose.

Again, many thanks to Bryan B for today's images.

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Roy Blakey

I sometimes refer to Roy Blakey (1930-2024) as "the other photographer named Roy," but that doesn't really give him credit for his amazing talent. He took up photography after a career as a skater for Holiday on Ice, and he did some amazing work. Today we look at ten more of his photos.