Calendars - Part 62

Douglas Simonson

Douglas Simonson is an artist who specializes in male nudes.  Born in 1950, he grew up in Nebraska, then moved to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1971.  Above, Simonson on Ala Moana Beach in Honolulu in his younger days.

For years he drew male nudes, but he was ashamed to show them to anyone, and he tore up the drawings.  Around 1980 he finally came to terms with the fact that he is gay.  He started showing his drawings to others, and he started painting professionally and selling his artworks.

For thirty years, he produced male nude art in Hawaii.  Then in 2014, he moved to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

In addition to paintings and drawings, Simonson has produced calendars of his artwork.  His 2021 calendar featured photographs along with the painting that he made from each photo.  Above, Omar in Puerto Vallarta.

Simonson said, "I'm constantly fighting the urge to be careful and get things "right" in my painting, and always pushing myself to take bigger chances, to be more daring and explosive. I'm not so interested in making something look photographically accurate as I am in evoking some emotional connection with the viewer.  I'd rather have you feel something than be impressed with how well I drew something."

I must say this one, Chadwick in California, is almost photographically accurate.

But this one, Enrique in Puerto Vallarta, is more stylized.

His 2022 calendar also showed photos and the resulting paintings.  Here's Fabian in Puerto Vallarta.

Israel and Wellington in Bahia, Brazil.

Fabian in Puerto Vallarta.

His 2023 calendar showed just paintings, not photos.

Steve at Malibu.

Dominican boys.

Rod's Umbrella.

Second Thoughts.

A Dip with Enrique.

Protests - Part 62

 James Penlidis

James Penlidis lives in Melbourne, Australia.  In February 2017 a house was built next to him with windows that looked over his privacy fence into his house and his yard.  Penlidis says the builder promised that the new house's windows would be frosted to protect his privacy.

When the windows went in and were not frosted, Penlidis came up with an eye-catching way to protest against his loss of privacy.  "If you want something to look at, I'll give you something," he said.  He started barbecuing, working out, painting his house and cleaning the gutters naked, and he made sure local news stations knew about it.

Above, a local reporter interviews Penlidis cleaning his gutters naked.

Another view of Penlidis cleaning his gutters.

Here he is painting his house.

And here he is riding his exercise bike within view of the neighbors' windows (and apparently within view of the street).  Penlidis' protest went viral and gained support from the community.  "No one wants to see a hairy Greek guy with it all hanging out," he said.

I suspect that many of you, dear readers, would enjoy seeing a hairy Greek guy with it all hanging out.  But apparently his new neighbors didn't.  After six days they gave in and decided to have their windows frosted.

Ironically, Penlidis may have welcomed the opportunity to show off naked.  He is a commercial photographer.  Several years earlier, he posted this photo of himself on Facebook to attract business.  I think he's an unashamed male.

Ivy League Posture Photos - Part 41

 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 eight more Yale students that I had the opportunity to acquire.  For privacy reasons, I redact the names of men who might still be alive.  Four of these men have passed away, so their names are not redacted.

This is Yale Freshman B.W. on October 13, 1953.

In 1952, Yale installed an apparatus using mirrors to photograph the front, rear, side and top view.  Prior to that, the posture photo was just a side view.

This is Yale freshman P.W. on October 9, 1953.

Note the strange pins stuck to each student's back and chest.  The pins were stuck on at specific points for later posture analysis.

This is Yale freshman S.W. on October 9, 1953.

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 Bernard Witter on October 13, 1953.

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

This is Yale freshman Charles D. Wolverton on October 9, 1953.

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

This is Yale freshman Stephen Douglas Hamlin on October 11, 1954.

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

This is Yale freshman Henry Lewis Harris on October 12, 1954.

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.

This is Yale freshman P.H. on October 19, 1954.

*        *        *

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, children, grandchildren, etc. 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.

Ads - Part 60

 Posters part 2

We continue our mini-series on ads for products or events in the form of posters featuring nude males.  Today, posters during World War I.  The war started on July 28, 1914, but you'd never know it from this Slovenian poster for an athletic competition in August, 1914.

This French poster is undated, but it's definitely from World War I, showing the German eagle attacking the French flag and asking citizens to "subscribe to the 4th national loan" (presumably war bonds).

Far from the conflict, this 1915 poster advertises an exposition in San Francisco celebrating the recently built Panama Canal, completed in 1914.  The U.S. did not enter World War I until 1917.

This poster for Italian Fiat bicycles can be dated to 1915-1920 based on the logo.

Here's an Argentinian poster from 1917 directed at Italian immigrants, asking them (in Italian) to subscribe to Banco Italo Belga war bonds.

A Russian military poster, February, 1917.  The Russian war against Germany was a disaster.  A month after this poster, the Russian Revolution began with the removal of the Russian monarch, Czar Nicholas II.  After further revolution in November, the Communists took control.

A 1917 Dutch poster advertising military demonstrations in physical exercises.

This 1918 German poster is asking people to "batter down the gates of peace" by subscribing to the eighth war loan.  An odd, warlike description of how to achieve peace.

Another 1918 German poster for war bonds, smashing a tiny Uncle Sam.  By this time the U.S. had entered the war against Germany.

Another German war bonds poster, labeled "Der 9 Pfeil" (the 9th arrow), presumably the 9th set of bonds.

We end with this August 1918 Dutch poster for military demonstrations of physical exercises.  The war ended 3 months later on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918.

Naked Farmer - Part 37

State of Nature

We continue our series of photos posted by the Naked Farmer, Ben Brooksby, a young Australian farmer who posts photos of naked Australian farmers on social media sites. The naked photos are to get people's attention, and his message is to encourage people with mental health issues like suicidal thoughts to talk about it with someone and not to hide it away. Ben himself had suffered from panic attacks in school.

Farmers send Ben naked photos of themselves from all over Australia.  I organize the photos by which Australian state they're from.  Today's photos did not specify which state, so I call them "state of nature."

Above, a beautiful view.  And the scenery's not bad, either.

This one was labeled "Living the Australian dream."

In contrast, this one was called "Mad cow disease?"  I think the calf is just scared.

Ben can't post frontal views because he posts these photos on Facebook, which doesn't allow frontals.

More cows by a farmer and his pond.

Best friends and man's best friend.

Another beautiful view.

Milking the cows.

Mountain view.

Man with a cup.  Is this a vintage photo?  I don't know.

We end today with this lineup.

Bodybuilders - Part 13

Ray Routledge

Ray Routledge (1931-2008) won the Mr. America title in 1961.  He was actually in the Air Force at the time, doing bodybuilder competitions while on leave.  He flew in from an air base in Germany to win Mr. America in 1961.

Earlier, he supplemented his income by posing nude for physique photographers such as Dave Martin.  Above, Ray Routledge by Dave Martin, 1951.

Ray Routledge by photographer Russ Warner, 1951.

Ray Routledge by Russ Warner, 1953.  Note that in these early photos, his arms are not very muscular.

This is said to be a 1952 photo by Russ Warner.  The comment "art class" is problematic.  Either Ray was posing nude for an art class, which is possible, and some amateur took this photo, or Russ Warner took the photo in his studio.  Warner was a professional photographer and would not be taking photos in an art class.

Also, there are problems with the dates that I have found for many of these photos.  Note that Ray has more muscles in this supposed 1952 photo than he does in the previous supposed 1953 photo.  Ray was gradually getting more muscular during those years, not less muscular.  I have arranged these photos more or less in order by how muscular he is, not the dates that I have found on Internet sites.  It just goes to show you can't always trust everything that someone posted on some Internet site.

Ray Routledge by Russ Warner, supposedly 1951, but he has more muscles than the other 1951 shots.

Ray Routledge by Russ Warner, supposedly 1953, with more muscles than the fourth photo in this post, which was also supposedly 1953.

Ray Routledge by Russ Warner.  This was a perfect example of why not to trust the dates.  One site said it was from 1951; another site said it was from 1957.

Ray Routledge by Russ Warner, undated, but it looks like it was taken in the same session as the previous photo.

We end with Ray Routledge supposedly photographed by Dave Martin, undated, but it also looks like it's from the same session with Russ Warner (note the mat that he's lying on).  Conclusion?  Don't trust everything that you see on the Internet.

Ray Routledge stopped posing nude when he started winning major bodybuilding competitions in 1957.  His tattoo was a disadvantage in these competitions – judges deducted points for having a tattoo.  Nevertheless, in 1961 he won both Mr. America and Mr. Universe.

I got many of these photos from Vintage Muscle Men (but not the questionable dates – those were on other sites).  Thanks, Jerry!