FaVorites:
Bruce of Los Angeles
Bruce Bellas continued to travel around the country, finding new models to photograph. He also personally often delivered those nude photographs to customers, especially with the risk that they could be be seized by postal inspectors if sent through the mail. n 1956, now with a solid reputation, and a huge portfolio of images, Ballas decided that instead of depending on others to publish his images, he launched his own magazine, The Male Figure.
An icon of gay art and one of the most famous names in physique photography, Bruce Bellas is remembered today as a pioneer of beefcake. Bellas photographed some of the most important figures in the world of physical culture; bodybuilders Steve Reeves, Bob McCune, and George Eiferman, and models Joe Dallesandro, Mark Nixon, and Brian Idol are just a few of the countless strapping males captured by Bellas' lens.
The man who came to be known as Bruce of Los Angeles crafted a refined, masterful aesthetic of erotica, whose influence would later surface in the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, Bruce Weber, and many others.
Traveling even til the end, Bellas died while on vacation in Canada in 1974. Bellas was in a long-term relationship with favorite model Scotty Cunningham, (below) to whom he left his estate.
Cunningham
Bruce of Los Angeles was shooting pictures of handsome young men clothed and unclothed but for many years, those prints were never exhibited. They were only exchanged under the table quietly and literally kept in the closets of their owners. It was an exciting time in Hollywood and there were gay people in the industry but it was still a time to be discreet and careful
No comments:
Post a Comment