Estonian Photos - Part 26

 Estonian Photos

We continue our series of photos from the Tartu Ülikooli museum of anthropology in Estonia.

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 at the University of Tartu.  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.

Many of the men have dark faces and hands.  Are they are tanned from working outside like farmers, or are they dirty from some dirty occupation?  We don't know.

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.

A clue to the time frame 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.

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 wristwatches 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.

Since the use of glass plates fell out of use in the 1920s, I think the photos were most likely taken shortly after World War I.

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 may have 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 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, not film, but glass plates were more expensive and involved more labor than film, so yes, 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".

Olympics - Part 15b

2020 Tokyo Olympics, part 2 of 2

Spanish karate competitor Damian Quintero won a silver medal in 2020.

Did you know that skateboarding was an Olympic sport?  It was added as an Olympic event in 2020.  This is American skateboard competitor Nyjah Huston.

British diver Noah Williams competed in 2020 and won silver in 2024.

French diver Alexis Jandard.

German diver Timo Barthel having a slight wardrobe malfunction.

We end with Italian rower Andrea Panizza after he just got out of the shower.

Olympics part 15a

 2020 Tokyo Olympics, part 1 of 2

The 2020 Olympic Games were held in Tokyo, Japan.  Let's look at some of the athletes in the 2020 Olympics.  Above, British diver James Heatly.

British divers Tom Daley, foreground, and his diving partner Matty Lee, background, won gold in synchronized platform diving.

Dominican Republic baseball player Jose Bautista.  The Dominican team won a bronze medal.

French volleyball player Trevor Clevenot giving us a peek as he lifts his leg.  The French team won gold in 2020.

Spanish runner Ignacio Fontes.

Mexican swimmer Diego Balleza.

And here's Diego Balleza exercising.

Tomorrow: more 2020 Olympics.

Vintage Military - Part 71

Italian Front, World War I

In World War I, Italy fought on the side of the Allies, against Germany.  In particular, there was a front in northeastern Italy on the border of what used to be Austria-Hungary.

Above, Austro-Hungarian prisoners captured by the British Army bathing in a stream on the Italian Front, 1917-1918.  Photo by W.J. Brunell in the Imperial War Museums.

The statue above, called Monument to the Fallen in the Great War (World War I), was dedicated in Trieste, Italy in 1935.  It depicts five naked soldiers, three of them supporting a wounded comrade while the fifth protects them with a shield.

This 1918 statue in the gardens of the Villa Borghese in Rome depicts an Italian war hero, Enrico Toti, who had lost a leg before the war (hence the crutch).  Not accepted into the army because of his injury, he nevertheless served unofficially, delivering messages at the front line.  He was killed in 1916.

We end with a 1982 Italian film about World War I called Porca Vacca.  It's an Italian phrase (literally "pig cow") that means "Holy cow!" (or less politely, "Holy shit!").  The film is about an Italian vaudeville comedian who tries and fails to avoid getting drafted in World War I and his subsequent misadventures in the army.  The film was panned by critics, but the clip above is worth watching.  In the Italian army induction center, we see a line of recruits waiting to be processed.  The man dressed as a woman is the comedian, who is trying to avoid getting drafted by pretending he's gay or trans.  It doesn't work, but meanwhile we can admire the scenery.

Events - Part 68

 Dore Alley Street Artist

The Dore Alley (a.k.a. Up Your Alley) Fair in San Francisco is an annual leather and fetish event.  San Francisco has banned public nudity except for events that have a permit, but the Dore Alley Fair has a permit.  Above, attendees can remove and check their clothes if they want to be more bare.

This street artist in 2023 called himself the Dick Artist and proclaimed that he will draw your dick for free.

Here he is drawing another dick.

Here we get to see his drawing, and he's not bad as an artist.

Here's another customer seen from the front ...

and the side.  The second street artist seems to have disappeared after this one drawing.

But the Dick Artist continued drawing more dicks.

He showed up again at the 2024 Dore Alley fair, above.

Another customer in 2024.

Of course, there were guys at the event that had other ideas about what to do with a dick besides drawing it.

Performers - Part 66

 Zachary Stains

Zachary Stains is an opera singer.  He is best known for starring in Ercole su’l Termodonte by Vivaldi at Italy's Spoleto Festival in 2006, in which he was almost naked, wearing a minimal costume that exposed his penis.

Ercole su’l Termodonte (Hercules in Thermadon) is about one of the legendary twelve labors of Hercules, in which the ancient Greek hero Hercules has to retrieve the sword of the Queen of the Amazons, a tribe of fierce female warriors.

The director, John Pascoe, was also the set designer.  His design for the set of the Greek camp, above, featured giant broken stone phalluses.  He was also the costume designer, responsible for Hercules' revealing lion-skin cape.

Above, a short excerpt where Hercules (Zachary Stains), after learning that the Greek ships have been burned, tells his men that they must now conquer the Amazons.  Note what his costume doesn't cover.

Later, at the beginning of Act III, Stains doffs his lion-skin cape and sings the aria above naked.

Here's a photo from that aria.  Zachary Stains' performance in this role was superb – not just his singing, which was well done, though Vivaldi's music may not appeal to modern tastes, but the fact that Stains had the body to pull off his appearance as a naked Greek hero.

Photographers - Part 66

 J. Wayne Higgs

J. Wayne Higgs (1939-2023) was a photographer and graphic artist in the Washington, DC area.  Born John Wayne Higgs, he dropped "John" and went by Wayne Higgs.

He is remarkable for the number of nude self-portrait photos that he made during a long life.  Last year I published a post showing some of them.  Today we will see some more.  All of today's photos are his self-portraits.

Above, In the Pines, a Self-Portrait, 1966.

Kneeling Male Nude (Self-Portrait), 1968.  Note that he's quite well-hung.  However, based on the size in some other photos (see The Cigarette, later), it appears that he was somewhat excited in this and the previous photo.

Like any tourist, he took photos of himself while traveling; they just happen to be naked.  Above, Self-Portrait, Great Salt Lake Desert, 1976.

Umbrella Man is Up, a Self-Portrait, 1979, Washington DC.  Higgs is on the right and umbrella man is definitely up.

Self-Portrait in the Yard, 1987 shows another side of Higgs.

The Cigarette, a Self-Portrait, 1988.

He continued taking self-potraits as he aged.  Above, Self Portrait, Zebulon Grotto, 2013, at age 74.

Self-Portrait, Orient Beach, St. Martin, 2015, taken at a nude beach that I featured recently.

Good Morning, a Self-Portrait, 2020.  He was 81 years old.  He died in 2023 at age 83.

In addition to his self-portraits, J. Wayne Higgs also took many photos of other nude males.  We'll see some of them next time.