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Wednesday, July 3, 2024
Venture Fourth...
'It's a party in the U.S.A'
Struggling to decide what to this fourth? Thinking of a party, a parade, a quiet day at home with friends? Check out some FH-style suggestions on ways to spend the day on the NEXT PAGE HERE:
Tony Sansone: An American Pioneer
'The Most Beautiful Man in America.'
Charles Atlas
I love profiling the pioneers of male nude and physique photography, the artists and models who paved the way. On Canada Day, I featured Can-Art Studio, but for The Fourth of July, I'm going a little further back. Most of the artists and models I've featured in 'vintage' posts, worked in the 40's, 50's and 60's, but male physique model Tony Sansone's career started almost a a century ago in the 1920's.
Born in New York in 1905, Sansone's parent were both Sicilian immigrants. As a child, Sansone developed scarlet fever, leaving him with a fragile build. At 14, Sansome took an interest in sports and began working out at a park near h is home. Since there weren't gyms on every corner in the 1920's, Sansome did chin-ups, handstands and other exercises and acrobatics in the park. At the age of 16, he came across magazine pictures of physique models and became interested in physical fitness and development. Soon Sansome was training, including under the guidance of bodybuilder Charles Atlas.
In 1923, when he was still just 18, Sansone won a physique contest that was sponsored by Atlas. Despite his success, Sansone never pursued completive bodybuilding, his fame in the bodybuilding industry was mostly the result of his modeling success. Sansone began modeling the same year, and found he could profit from selling pictures of himself through mail-order ads. He was soon a sought after model, posing for paintings, photographers and sculptures.
Below: Sansone at Chester Beach's sculpture 'Sun, Mist and Sea' 1930
Sansone certainly wasn't the first male physique model, but he was one of the most iconic, and one of the first men to become famous, and carve out a career from modeling fully nude. With the success of his mail-order business, Sansone soon began modeling for male physique magazines and catalogs. Sansone appeared on the covers of magazines in America, Canada and Europe.
Sansone's modeling success allowed him to branch out, publishing several photo books,. By 1936, he had sold over 15,000 copies of his books, including his most famous book, Modern Classics. In addition to his nudes, Sansone was also known for his creative posing, the focus of many of his books.
Sansone also studied dance, and though a knee injury cut his dance career short, his dance training was a strong influence with his style of posing. Many of the shots featured here were taken by Edwin F. Townsend who became Sansone's principal photographer after meeting, and shooting him in 1929.
In the late 1920's, Sansone also dipped into the acting world, but it was fitness that remained his primary passion. Sansone owned and operated three gyms (which he referred to as 'body culture studios;) in New York City. Bodybuilder Steve Reeves was among his customers.
Although he did lift weights, building muscle was never Sansone's primary goal. Sansone was more focused on fitness and maintaining his 6' body's lean frame. Upon retirement, Sansome continued to work, but this time focused on volunteering, especially teaching underprivileged children.
Patriotic Palette: Dawn Tang by John Mar
'In the quiet moments, the discoveries are made.'
Most holidays tend to be loud, especially Independence Day celebrations. Between barbecues and parties, parades and those 4th of July fireworks, it's not a great day for those seeking quiet moments. Yet, it's those moments, that are often the most meaningful. When I think back to going to fireworks as a kid, I remember the split second of silence, before the firework explodes, and the second second of silence, following the ooh and aah chorus from the crowd.
I still love me some tacky Christmas ornaments, shiny Halloween pumpkins and loud fireworks, but over the last few years, I've grown to also love and seek out the quieter, subtle moments associated with holidays. I think that's one of the reasons I really love this series of images celebrating the Fourth of July from photographer John Mar.
It's not that I'd describe these images as quiet, but there is a powerful, yet delicate beauty in the way John visualized and captured the theme. Each image incorporates the red, white and blue, and the stars and stripes so intrinsically linked with Independence Day. As visually striking as John's images are, there is also beautiful calmness peaceful feel in the patriotic palette on display.
John chose the perfect creative collaborator in model Dawn Tang to help bring the concept to life. When I first connected with John in 2022 about featuring his work, it was his work with Dawn he suggested we feature. John and Dawn's artistic alliance has been a part of several of my favorite holiday posts over the last few years on the site. (HERE:)
John shares that for most of his themes, the inspiration comes from suggestions from others, friends, and often the models he's working with. Other times, especially for holiday shoots, there's an idea he's been thinking of for awhile, one bubbling just beneath the surface, waiting for the calendar to coincide with a shoot. For this holiday theme, John says that all of those factors came into play.
I love the body paint images with Dawn. He is a beautiful canvas and we decided not to do a literal translation of a flag onto his body, but to evoke a patriotic feel. I think it worked. I think my favorite part of our shoot was throwing concepts out to Dawn and batting them back and forth until we get the perfect images. I love collaborating with him.
I think my favorite look would be the glow in the dark shots, where I have red and blue glow in the dark stars on my collar bones.. Looking at the shots, I thought I looked like a super hero in the dark, trying to save the world I guess haha. I looked different than any of the other shots since the lighting is different and it felt like my skin was glowing in the dark.
Dawn also loves the collaborative relationship he and John have created. Dawn had a lot of input into the shoot right down to the placement of stars and the angles used to capture his body. He and John discussed the positioning and intensity of the body paint, and Dawn loved the way it turned out in the final images. Dawn's favorite moment was using the star confetti. Dawn shares that it was challenging as they only had a few seconds to seize the moment as the confetti literally popped in air. In addition to being fun, for Dawn, the patriotic theme was also especially meaningful given his heritage.
'The patriotic theme means a lot to me as an Asian American. To represent the community with my own aesthetics, culture and values. Being a person with color is not always easy, you always have to work extra hard to get to a place that others seem to have an easier tie achieving.'
As for how they're spending the forth. For Dawn, it's attending a barbecue party hosted by a local gay Asian American community, and celebrating with his folks. For John, the fourth usually including heading to beach with friends early in the day. Then, in the evening, John enjoys the quiet moments, especially after spending much of his night trying to keep his little dog calm amidst the noise and the fireworks.
Tuesday, July 2, 2024
The Male Form By CP: The Red, The White, The Blue
Constantine
True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on earth…
Eleanor Roosevelt
The American flag consists of 13 horizontal stripes, seven red alternating with six white. The stripes represent the original 13 Colonies and the stars represent the 50 states of the Union. The colors of the flag are symbolic as well; RED symbolizes hardiness and valor, WHITE symbolizes purity and innocence, and BLUE represents vigilance, perseverance and justice.
Kanou
The stars and stripes and the red, white and blue on the American flag make it one of the most famous, and visually stunning flags in the world. Every year I love to find new images featuring the flag, with equally stunning men, posing, holding and draped by the colors and symbols. This year, I have new models to feature, Constantine and Kanou, both shot by The Male Form by CP.
Thanks to The Male Form with CP for sharing these shots, some of which have not been published before.
Lowering the Flag 🗽
12 Days:
Matthias Schweighöfer in
Friendship (2010)
It's 1989 and while all of Germany is celebrating the German Reunification, Veit and Tom set off for America with nothing more than a 100 Deutsch Marks "welcoming money" in their pocket. They are trying to find Veit's Dad who fled long before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Although 2010's Friendship is a German/American film, the location and the story are definitely all American. Directed by Markus Goller, the movie has a familiar theme. You know the one where the stranger, the foreigner, even the alien from outer space arrive in the United States. They don't know the language, the customs or the culture.
In this case, the 'stranger' are Veit, (Friedrich Mücke) and Tom, (Matthias Schweighöfer) two friends we meet at the beginning of the film. The first few scenes take place in Germany, and in those few scenes, we see Veit and Tom's first meeting, and quickly understand why they became friends. We also find out that 'friendship' was the first word they learned when planning their trip to America.
Given it's a road trip, we know there will be plenty of obstacles in their way to find Veit's father in San Francisco. For starters, they only have enough cash to get to New York which means once they land, they have to find money and a means to get to the other side of the country. This means doing what they can to make money, from showing their films, to stripping and eventually agreeing to drive a car to California.
The move is often categorized as a 'gay film', but neither of the lead characters are gay. I think given it's star is Schweighöfer, who some know from his many nude scenes, (some you can see on FH HERE:) promoting the film as 'gay themed' may have made some odd sense at the time. There is a sweet dynamic between the two male leads, and although just friends, it's easy to imagine the two getting together sexually, even if just for a night.
Along the way, they're arrested twice, once when they arrive in the US, and once for 'public nakedness' while on the road. After cleaning up in a lake, the two get back int the car wearing almost nothing, as their clothes hang out of the car to drive. When they're pulled over by the police, Tom (Schweighöfer) get's out with only an American Flag to cover the goods. Never has there been a hotter lowering of the flag... Thanks to RESTITUDA1 for helping jog my memory about this scene!
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