GAYLETTER

I’ve had this book in my space for months, it’s so big! I’d take it out, put it on my desk, open it, close it, put it back on the archival shelf for a few weeks then take it out again. This dance went on for months until spring arrived — suddenly it seemed like the right time to have a look at all the luscious, nubile men rendered in brightly saturated technicolor. It’s quite massive with over 45 color plates shot “en plein air” and almost sixty shots from the studio. The classic physique work finds the models brightly lit, well-oiled and nude in some cases; yes full frontal nude! There are few props in the images, a stool, a column, a plastic ball, a cowboy hat and settings that included brightly colored backdrops in the studio or scenes in nature.

“There was no shortage of fit handsome men who were willing to pose naked and the existing evidence suggests that in the beginning (after WWll) at least they were much more likely to be junior varsity quarterbacks than hustlers down on their luck.” This nuance to casting bred a wholesome athletic naiveté — almost a sense of budding optimism to the images, as opposed to a more pornographic edge.

Photographer Bruce Bellas, better known as Bruce of Los Angeles liked the “well-built All American boy, the older brother or more likely retired dad of the sports beauties Bruce Weber has turned into contemporary icons.” This quote is taken from the informative and insightful essay in the book written by longtime Village Voice photography critic Vince Aletti who gives a succinct history of this genre of photography thus gently placing Bruce into it’s midst. His work appeared in magazines like Adonis, Body Beautiful, Tomorrow’s Man, Trim and his own quarterly, The Male Figure from 1956-1966. Bruce didn’t actually live in LA but settled in nearby Orange County in Los Alamitos. As the story goes Bruce took a trip to LA from Nebraska where he was teaching high school chemistry to shoot nude men, probably outdoors, where he got arrested. The incident got reported to his school so he packed up and moved to sunny CA. I’m glad he did. The work produced here is unique in its laser focus establishing an aesthetic that is quite formal and refined for this type of photography.

The book is also accompanied by a delightful DVD of Bruce’s film work — shorts in black and white and color of his models come to life with titles like ‘Swimming Hole,’ ‘Cowboy Wash-Up’ and ‘Patio Antics.’ All in all the book provides a total immersion into the world of Bruce of Los Angeles. Of interesting note, Bruce died in 1974 at the age of 65 of heart failure while taking pictures at a Canadian rodeo, he was with a favorite model. You go Bruce.

The book is available on Antinous Press, click here to buy it.