Estonian Photos - Part 13

Estonian Photos

Here's another group of photos from the Tartu Ülikooli museum of anthropology in Estonia.

The source website provides these as both small photos and extremely hi-res photos.  Almost all the photos here are the small photos.  The hi-res photos are huge; they take 2 minutes each to download.  I have downloaded a few in hi-res, including the first 3 photos in this post.  Click on the photos to see the larger image.

For those who haven't seen my previous posts in this series, a few words of explanation.  The museum provides no information about the men, other than the photos came from the Institute of Anatomy.  In particular, it does not say who these men are, or when or why the photos were taken.

My best guess is that they are military recruits.  The very short haircuts suggest that these photos were taken during or shortly after the enlistment process.

The dark faces and hands of many of the men suggests that they are either deeply tanned from working outside like farmers, or they are dirty from working in a place like a coal mine. Estonia doesn't have any coal mines, but it has oil shale mines, which would make the workers just as dirty.

When were the photos taken?  My assumption has been between World War I and World War II, when Estonia was an independent country with its own military.  Before WWI, Estonia was part of the Russian Empire, and after WWII, Estonia was part of the Soviet Union until 1991.

Another clue is that these photographs were made on glass plates, not film.  Dry glass-plate photography started in 1871 and began to fall out of use in the 1920s.  I found some references to it in Estonia through the 1930s.

Although these appear to be military recruits, these may not not be military photos.  We know that the museum that currently has the photos got them from the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Tartu.  If these are military photos, why would they end up at the Institute of Anatomy?

A more likely possibility is that the photos were taken by academics.  Scientists at the Institute of Anatomy were doing studies to try to measure what they considered racial characteristics of the population by measuring the body, including phrenology (measuring the skull), ideas which are now discredited.

I think that the scientists at the Institute of Anatomy persuaded the military to let them take photographs of the naked new recruits for "research" purposes.  I have no written evidence to support this idea, but since the photos were at the Institute of Anatomy, and the photo subjects appear to be military recruits, it's now my best guess as to what happened.

One other clue to the time frame of these photos is that in a previous batch, one of the men is wearing a wristwatch.   Wristwatches were considered to be for ladies before World War I.  (Men used pocket watches.)  However, during the war, wristwatches proved very useful for soldiers and pilots.  After WWI, wristwatches came into fashion for men.  Although they were evidently rare in Estonia (only two men wore a wristwatch among the hundreds that were photographed), it suggests that these photos are post-World War I.

One other question that perennially arises from these photos is: why were the men photographed in pairs?  Was it to save film?

The answer is that these photos were made on glass plates, which were more expensive than film, so it's likely that the men were photographed in pairs to save on glass plates.

So, bottom line: My best guess is that these photos were taken after World War I, the subjects are new or recent Army recruits, and the Estonian military allowed scientists from the Institute of Anatomy to take photos of the naked recruits for "research".

Boys and their Balls - Part 47

Miniten

Did you know there was a sport created by nudists?  Miniten is a version of tennis invented in the 1930s at naturist clubs in England.  The court that it's played on is smaller than a standard tennis court, because the naturist clubs often did not have enough land to make full-sized tennis courts.

Instead of using a tennis racquet, miniten players use a wooden box called a thug that fits around the hand.

Standard tennis balls are used, and the rest of the rules are similar to tennis.

In 1966 a group of naturists in the south of England formed the Amateur Miniten Association of Great Britain to formalize the rules of the game.

Like tennis, miniten can be played by singles ...

or doubles.

Here, a guy named Carl grabs a smoke during a miniten break.

Above is a photo of some British miniten players with a trophy that they won.  Wait a minute – this is this the Unashamed Male website, not the Unashamed Female.  Well, let me do a little Photoshop editing ...

There, that's better.  Congrats to our miniten winners!

Weighing In - Part 49

Shea Neary

Shea Neary, born in 1968, is a British boxer, nicknamed the Shamrock Express because he is of Irish descent, although he grew up in Liverpool.  He held the WBU light-welterweight championship from 1996 to 2000.  Now retired, his record was 23 wins and 2 losses.  Above, he weighs in for a 1999 fight against Mike Griffith.

But we're more interested in his weigh-in for his last fight against Eamonn Magee in 2000.  The weigh-in was at the Hilton in Watford, Hertfordshire, the day before the fight.  Shea and the officials evidently saw no need to hide behind a towel at the weigh-in.  Perhaps it was not a public event.  Perhaps there were no women present.  In any case, I'd say Shea Neary is an unashamed male.

Poem of the Day - Part 48

 My Beard
by Shel Silverstein

Today we have another poem by Shel Silverstein (1930-1999).  Silverstein was an author, poet, cartoonist, and songwriter.  Best known for his children's books like A Light In the Attic, he also wrote the Johnny Cash song A Boy Named Sue and was a regular contributor to Playboy magazine.  Above, Silverstein on an assignment for Playboy to a nudist camp.  Silverstein was not gay.  He once visited Fire Island on assignment for Playboy, resulting in a bunch of cartoons that poked fun at the gay men there, but no more than he poked fun at everyone else.

Today's poem is called My Beard.  I think it was just meant to be playful, but these naga sadhus (Hindu holy men who have renounced everything, including clothes) bring it to life quite literally.

                                        My beard grows to my toes

                                        I never wears no clothes

(Note: this guy has wrapped his penis around the pole to show that he renounces physical passion.  Other naga sadhus wrap their penis around something sharp, like a sword.)

                                        I wraps my hair around my bare

                                        and down the road I goes.

Photographers - Part 49

Self-Portraits

In both art and photography, the self-portrait is a popular subject, perhaps because the model is always available.  We've seen many nude self-portraits in this blog, but today we look at some photographic self-portraits that we haven't seen before.

Above, artist Thomas Eakins, who popularized using photography as a tool to assist the artist, in a self-portrait photo dated 1883.

A 1919 self-portrait by Czech photographer František Drtikol.

Dutch artist and photographer Gerrit Petrus Fieret, above, worked in the 1960s and 1970s.

Mill Creek, 1966, a self-portrait by American photographer J. Wayne Higgs.

We've seen some of Peter Zvonar's work, but not Nude Self-Portrait with Gun.

Likewise, our survey of the work of Matthew Papa did not include this untitled selfie of the photographer from the rear.

Robert Mapplethorpe never hesitated to take photos that might shock some viewers.  This is a rather explicit self-portrait c. 1973.

Along the same lines, this is Self-Portrait in Green Pants by German photographer Peter Berlin.

We end with this photo by Leonard Fink.  We've already seen Fink's work documenting the abandoned Hudson River piers in New York City that were taken over by gay men in the 1970s and 1980s, but we haven't seen this 1978 photo, called Self-Portrait Getting Fucked, Pier 46.

Artists - Part 52

Fernando Carpaneda

Fernando Carpaneda was born in Brazil in 1967 and moved to New York City in 1995, where he has lived ever since.  Above, he is at the Leslie-Lohman Museum with an exhibit of two of his sculptures.

His work is homoerotic and punk.  Above, Homophobia Kills, Case No. 17, 2020.

Another painting, Believers, 2015.

But his most striking works are his sculptures, most of which are miniature but with amazing detail.  Above, the works on display at the Leslie-Lohman Museum: Shane Rockford (left) and Chad Hunt (right), both from 2003.

This is Punk Rodin, 2015, a punk version of Rodin's famous sculpture The Age of Bronze.

And its companion piece, The Rebirth of Punk, 2015, is a reinterpretation of Michelangelo's sculpture The Dying Slave.

And this one is just called Punk.

Other mini-sculptures include My Ass to the Pope, 2003 ...

and this punk version of Archangel Gabriel.

In case there's any doubt that he's gay, we end with this sculpture, Bukake.  You can find much more of his work on his website https://carpaneda.com.

Beach Bums - Part 46

 Es Trenc, Mallorca

Platja Es Trenc is the most popular nude beach on the island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean.  Mallorca belongs to Spain, but the language spoken there is Catalan, where the word for beach is platja, not playa.  From the resort town of Colonia de Sant Jordi, in the background ...

the beach stretches for 2 km (1.2 miles).  Most beach-goers wear swimsuits, but nudity is allowed along the entire beach.

The beach is in a park, so it is backed by natural dunes, not hotels and restaurants.

The water is turquoise-blue ...

and the sand is dazzlingly white (among other dazzling things).

The water is shallow for quite a ways out.

After playing in the water, you can wade back to shore ...

and read a book ...

or work on your overall tan.

We end with this view of a mouth-watering treat.  And some pineapples.