VASTA

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Next Show: London Photo Fair May 15, 2011

Plans for upcoming shows are in place and the first one will be the London Photo Fair, Sunday May 15, 2011. Details are below. I hope to see you there!

The London Photo Fair Sunday May 15th. Bloomsbury Holiday Inn, Coram Street. The fair will be taking place on the same day as a preview for a photographs auction at the Bloomsbury Auction House.

The following is a selection of images from my inventory that will be for sale at the London Photo Fair.

DIABLERIES. Unknown. France, circa 1890s. Albumin Tissue Stereographs. 3.5" x 6.75"

Group of five stereos as a lot: SOLD

(Female Nude) F. Lecadre. France, circa 1880s. Albumin. 8.75" x 11.5" $600.00/£370.00
Click here for additional details.

(Female Nude) Unknown. France, circa 1880s. Albumin. 5.75" x 8.75" SOLD

Model Study. Albert Arthur Allen. United States, circa 1920. Silver gelatin. 8" x 10"

SOLD

(Female Nude) J.Willett. United States, circa 1921. Silver gelatin. 7" x 8.5"

SOLD

(Fashion/Lingerie) Yva Richard Studio. France, circa 1927. Silver gelatin. 5" x 7.5"

Click here for additional details SOLD

(Fashion/Lingerie) Brassai. France, circa 1932. Silver gelatin. 4" x 5.75"

SOLD

Josephine Baker. Teddy Piaz Studio. France, circa 1930. Silver gelatin. 7" x 9"

SOLD

Click here for additional details

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email vasta@earthlink.net for additional details

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Baron von Gloeden: The Male Face & Figure circa 1905

One of the more illusive and no less wonderful areas of the body and photo postcards, are images of the male face and figure. Comparatively, there is no doubt that the number of images of the undraped female body depicted on postcards far outweighs their male counterparts. For that reason alone, noteworthy images of the undraped male figure, on postcards, are rarely seen.

When sorted from various archives, my files of the male face and figure became quite large, requiring further categorization. This post began taking shape using various postcard images of male athletes, nude studies, performers, dancers, circus people and much more. Once I started editing, creating separate files, it became clear that the photo postcards by Wilhelm von Gloeden required a post just for themselves.

Known as the Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden (an appelation that the von Gloeden family of Mecklenburg, Germany discounted as a fabrication) he is most famous/notorious for his accomplishments with a camera, photographing youthful Sicilian males, circa 1890 ~ 1910. His photographs, some of which were made into postcards for Sicily's tourist trade by Adolph Engel in Berlin, are just an indication of what he created in Taormina.

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Above: an iconic portrait by Wilhelm von Gloeden. An exceptional image (alternating black on white and vic versa) predating the "modernist" movement by about 15 years!

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Today's society obscures the acceptance of the types of relationships that von Gloeden had with his Sicilian models. In his time, certain European countries, viewed homosexuality. It may come as a surprise to many that concepts of the "third sex" and homosexuality were discussed as a life style, starting in the mid-19th century by proponents of the Uranian movement and its supporters. Later, at the turn-of-the-century in Europe, naturism would also embrace homosexuality, only to reject it with the rise of fascism in the 1920s.

As a result of this concentration on the Baron von Gloeden photo postcards, I will reserve the remainder of the burgeoning file of men for later posts. Numerous posts, just for the postcards, will be necessary to present the genre properly.

The following images are in approximate chronological order, from circa 1905 to circa 1915. Each measure 3.5" x 5.5" except the two images of printed cards which are slightly larger.

Click here for Von Gloeden material in my eBay store.

Above: another portrait that some have suggested is of a girl. Although von Gloeden did on occasion photograph females, I believe this is actually a boy with his long hair pulled back (see end of the post for another portrait of the same model).

Portion of a typical back of most of the real photo postcards (rppc) published by Adolph Engel. Copyright Berlin, 1905.

The two images above and one below are often described as being "badly faded" or in "very poor condition". They are actually quite rare, existing examples of photographic paper used by Engel (and other publishers) with characteristics similar to hand-made, platinum emulsions on textured art paper.

TAbove: two photographs above show the dramatic contrast between the same image on different photographic emulsions.

Note Engel's logo in the lower left corner of all the above images.

Above: two images from a series of printed, slightly oversized postcards without von Gloeden's credit on the back. These printed images are the least appealing esthetically and at the same time, amongst the hardest to

find, making then quite rare.

Another portrait of the model that appears at the beginning of this post. This one made later, circa 1915, lacking von Gloeden's credit and publication info on the back.

The last two images are from the "Arcadian" series, circa 1905, depicting youthful male models, acceptably attired, posed in classic Sicilian settings.

Note Engel's logo lower left corner.

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Sunday, April 3, 2011

Modern Man: First Men's Magazine 1950s~1960s

The modern American "men's" magazine was born in the wake of the wonderful pulps of the 1920s and early '30s (Paris Nights, Stolen Sweets, Breezy, Snappy and Pep Stories); the Film Fun, Stocking Parade and Movie Merry-Go-Round types of the 1930s and the 1940s/early 1950s magazines from Harrison Publications (Beauty Parade, Eyeful, Wink and Titter). Along with the end of WWII, the incredible growth of America, the creation of the superhighway and the suburban commute, came a cultural explosion in the early '50s including the birth of Modern Man magazine in January,1952.

Preceding Hugh Hefner's incredible success by almost two years, the publication of the little known Modern Man (The Picture Magazine for Men, first issue January 1952) is to many, including myself, the genesis of the American "men's" magazine.

Above: the not very sexy, girl next door cover of the premiere issue of Modern Man January,1952; below: the second issue featuring stripper Lilly Christine on the cover.

December,1952. Playboy's first issue is still one year away.

The formula adopted by Modern Man was a mix of male centric picture stories including hunting, cars, guns, boxing, horses, racing and sports. Located at the middle of the magazine was the much anticipated dessert, the "girlie" feature and photo center spread. This same combination, the mixture of "men's" articles and "girlie" feature in the center of the magazine was emulated by Hefner for Playboy. It is more than likely that Hefner, a resident of Chicago, was influenced by what he saw in the pages of Modern Man, which was also a product of the windy city.

For me, what always kept Playboy from being a "girlie" magazine and made it the ultimate "men's" magazine was the "something special" it was infused with right from the start in the premiere issue. Today, nearly 60 years later and with 20/20 hindsight, we know that something special was Hefner himself and his "Playboy philosophy".

October,1952

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Eventually what separated Playboy from the other men's magazines was the mix of editorial content. The girlie photo layouts began to dominate the pages of the majority of other men's magazines. Meanwhile Playboy expanded in size and content: added interviews, created the Playboy lifestyle, published articles by top writers about art, jazz, film, men's style and included national advertising.

December,1954. Betty Brosmer cover

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As the late 1950s approached there was a flood of men's magazines. But the real competition for newsstand space was from the girlie magazines. Seductive scantily clad cover girls, plus an abundance of partially nude models in photo layouts were hard to resist. But I digress. Today's post is focused solely on Modern Man, from Issue Number One to the mid-1960s, illustrating the range of covers over that ten year period: strippers, pin-ups, movie stars, busty babes, internationally acclaimed actresses and blond bombshells.

In future posts I will explore my archives of American girlie magazines, non-newsstand magazines (magazines sold only in adult bookstores), the high quality Parliament magazines published in Los Angels and much more.

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