2537 - Homosexuality - LGBTQ - Bruce of Los Angeles (that is: Bruce Bellas). Male nudes. Three silver gelatin prints. Vintages. Verso bears the signature stamp “Bruce” (2x) and the studio stamp of “Bruce of Los Angeles,” as well as numeric stamps. 1960s. Sheet dimensions: approx. 25 x 20.5 cm each.

Homosexuality - LGBTQ - Bruce of Los Angeles (that is: Bruce Bellas). Male nudes. Three silver gelatin prints. Vintages. Verso bears the signature stamp “Bruce” (2x) and the studio stamp of “Bruce of Los Angeles,” as well as numeric stamps. 1960s. Sheet dimensions: approx. 25 x 20.5 cm each. The American photographer Bruce Harry Bellas (1909–1974)—best known as “Bruce of Los Angeles”—is considered a pioneer of nude photography, whose “beefcake” photos influenced not only Robert Mapplethorpe and Herb Ritts. In the pre-Stonewall era, physique or “beefcake” magazines featured photos of naked or scantily clad, muscular young men in athletic poses. As magazines focused on fitness, health, and bodybuilding, physique magazines were freely available for sale throughout the United States. Popular titles such as “Physique Pictorial” were thus able to provide a receptive readership with homoerotic images at a time when homosexuality was heavily stigmatized and persecuted. — Some are mounted on mat boards, with minimal curling and only slightly rubbed edges.