Beschreibung:

Bob Mizer (1922-1992)Leonard Chambers, c.1959 gelatin silver print, printed from the artist's original transparency and stamped with the Bob Mizer Estate on the verso 15 x 19 1/2 in. (38.1 x 49.5 cm.) sheet 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm.) FootnotesProvenance Acquired by the present owner in 2016. Bob Mizer was a controversial and prolific American photographer and filmmaker who is best known for his groundbreaking magazine Physique Pictorial that mixed photographs and illustrations of mostly men with his own political critiques. He is also best known for establishing the Athletic Model Guild in 1945, the oldest male model photography studio in the U.S. In the span of his nearly 50-year career, Mizer produced an oeuvre that both reflects and distorts American ideals of masculinity and sexuality, with photos that range from dramatically lit black and white photos of muscular men in posing straps (precursor to the G-string) to extreme close-ups and perspectives of the male form. In 1954, Mizer's career was brought into infamy when he was convicted of the unlawful distribution of obscene material through the U.S. mail with the photos in question being a collection of black and white photographs of young bodybuilders nearly nude in posing straps. At the time, the mere suggestion of male nudity in material sent through the U.S. mail was illegal. Mizer went on to create a portfolio estimated at nearly a million different images and thousands of films and video tapes that include star and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger (b.1947), Andy Warhol's (1928-1987) muse Joe Dellesandro (b.1948), and contemporary artist Jack Pierson (b.1960), as well as Hollywood actors, body builders, porn stars, and hustlers. His work has influenced countless contemporary artists, including David Hockney (b.1937) and Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989).