Ivy League Posture Photos - Part 59

Ivy League Posture Photos

Yale started taking nude photos of incoming freshmen in 1919 as part of a program to detect and correct posture problems.  The Yale photos have erroneously been associated with William Sheldon, a psychologist at Harvard and author of Nazi-like eugenic theories who used Harvard nude posture photos to illustrate his theory of somatypes.  The Yale program predates Sheldon, and, as far as I can tell, the Yale photos were never connected to Sheldon's work.

Here are posture photos of nine more Yale students that I had the opportunity to acquire.

This is Yale freshman Donald K. Richter on October 26, 1964.

In 1952, Yale installed an apparatus using mirrors to photograph the front, rear, side and top view.

This is Yale freshman W. R. on October 20, 1964.

Note the strange pins stuck to each student's back and chest.

This is Yale freshman G. H. on September 29, 1962.

The pins were stuck on at specific points for later posture analysis.

This is Yale freshman H. H. on October 16, 1963.

Supposedly, by examining the angles formed by connecting the points where the pins touched the body, certain posture problems could be detected.

This is Yale freshman J. R. on October 17, 1963.

If posture problems were detected, the student had to attend remedial posture sessions, and a second posture photo was taken.

This is Yale freshman William Wurts White, Jr. on September 28, 1951.

Photos taken before 1952 show only a side view.

This is Yale freshman Gunars Valdis Zagars on September 28, 1951.

The photography and analysis of the photos was conducted by the staff of Yale's Payne Whitney Gymnasium.

This is Yale freshman Richard James Cravens on February 1, 1951.

Nobody outside the gymnasium staff saw the photos, and the photos were not published for other students to see.

This is Yale freshman Richard Theodore Gallen on January 15, 1951.

The posture photo program was discontinued in the 1960s, and later, most of the photos were burned.  However, some of the photos escaped burning, including the photos that I have been showing in this series.

*          *          *

Note: some of my followers consider these photos an invasion of privacy for the students.  To protect the privacy of the students, I redact the names of students who may still be alive.  I only publish the names of students who have died.  Legally, the right to privacy does not extend beyond death, i.e. it does not extend to spouses and relatives of the deceased person.

I consider these photos to be a historical record of the time.  Almost all of the Ivy League posture photos were burned when their existence became widely known.  In my opinion, that was akin to book-burning of books that someone claimed were obscene.  These photos are not obscene.  They should be celebrated, not hidden away.

Bodybuilders - Part 32

Frederic Deltour

Frederic Deltour, born in 1982, won the Mr. France competition in 2003.  Mr. France was actually a contest of masculine beauty, not bodybuilding.  The 2003 Mr. France contest was broadcast on French TV station TF1.

Disclosure: I could not find any photos of the 2003 Mr. France contest, so I took a shirtless photo of Deltour and added a Mister France sash from another year's winner to the photo.

Deltour posed for the 2004 Dieux du Stade calendar, which featured hunky French athletes.  Above, a bonus photo in the calendar gives a peekaboo frontal view.

And more than a peekaboo view in this shot from the Making of Dieux du Stade DVD.

Deltour posed for nude photography in addition to Dieux du Stade.  Above, from a session shot at the edge of a pool.  I don't know who the photographer was.

Another shot from that session.

We end with this shot.  Click on it for a larger view of why Deltour was judged the most beautiful man in France.

Ads - Part 78

 Norway for Natural Reasons

Yesterday we saw the photo above – a guy standing naked on the Kjeragbolten, a rock wedged between two cliffs above a fjord near Stavanger, Norway, with a drop of over 3000 feet on each side.  Should naked images like this only be shared among friends and never be viewed by the public?

The Norway Convention Bureau thought otherwise.  This organization promotes Norway as a place to hold conferences and conventions.  They added the words "Norway for natural reasons", above, and ran the ad in industry publications, touting Norway as a good place to hold a conference.

At the International Congress and Convention Association meeting in 2009, this won an award for the year's best ad.

Above is another version of the ad.

And they used the image online, too.  Above is the first page of a pdf promoting Norway ...

and after many pages touting Norway, it ends with the page above.  You can view the pdf online here: Norway - Powered by Nature

Hiking - Part 79

Kjeragbolten, Norway

Previously we saw a rock in Norway called Trolltunga that sticks out high over a lake.  Today we see a rock called Kjeragbolten near Stavanger, Norway.  The rock is wedged between two cliffs above a fjord, with a drop of over 3000 feet on each side.

There's no way I would venture out onto this rock, but many people do, including a few who do it naked.

Look, Ma, no hands and no feet.

Room for two.

We end with this striking image that was actually used in advertising.  We'll see more about it tomorrow.

Events - Part 80

 Tapati Festival, Rapa Nui

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is famous for the giant statues carved by its inhabitants in ancient times (above).

In 2024 we looked at a modern day event in Rapa Nui called Tapati.  It's one of the largest cultural festivals in all of Polynesia.  Today we're taking another look at the Tapati festival.

Every February, the people of Rapa Nui divide into two camps or clans. The men strip naked and are covered with colored mud (above).

Or else symbols are painted on their bodies.  They wear a g-string for the festival (above).

Judges evaluate the men, scoring them from 0 to 10 depending on how decorated their bodies are.  The points are added into a total for the clan.  Above, a group of participants.

There are numerous singing and dancing competitions, but there are also athletic competitions, which score points for the clan.  Above, a competitor in the Haka Pei event.

In Haka Pei, each competitor slides down a hill on a banana trunk, reaching speeds of up to 80 kph (50 mph).

Another Haka Pei competitor.

Two Haka Pei competitors hug each other.

There are other competitions, including a race carrying bananas ...

body surfing ...

and spear throwing.

After it's all over, a girl from the clan with the most points is crowned as Queen of the Tapati for the year.

We end with one of the celebrants washing off the mud and paint in the ocean.  And that's it for Tapati until the next year.

You can see my previous post on the Tapati festival here: Tapati Festival

Weighing In - Part 80

Charles 'Krazy Horse' Bennett

Charles 'Krazy Horse' Bennett, born in 1979, is an American mixed martial arts fighter.  The video above shows him weighing in for a kickboxing match at the Shoot Boxing World Tournament in Tokyo on Nov. 11, 2016 at which he fought Japanese boxer Masaya.  No modesty cloth here, and no false modesty.

 

Poem of the Day - Part 80

 Hope is the Thing with Feathers
by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chilliest land

And on the strangest sea,

Yet never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.