Gay Art + Photography

Physique Pictorial, Volume XXV
Athletic Model Guild
Los Angeles, California
May, 1974

digital replica

Athletic Model Guild, a company owned and operated by Bob Mizer, specialized in images of attractive young men. Initially, the erotic appeal of pictures was camouflaged in the fitness idiom. By the 1970s, when nudity was permissible, AMG sold slides, movies, photos and Physique Pictorial magazine. The nakedness of the models, and the language that accompanied them, clearly sought to attract a gay male audience, as well as a few visually adventurous straight women.

All monochrome on good glossy paper, 32-page Physique Pictorial served as a catalog of AMG products and periodical showing nude males. The models appear next to text that provides names, ages, weights and interests. Much of the text cross-promotes AMG films and other products featuring the model on the page.

Mr. Mizer probably wrote and typed the prose, expressing opinions about censorship and police excess. He also prints and replies to letters from readers.

Most photographs were taken outdoors, often around swimming pools. Others are stills from gay-themed movies. A few pictures show two men, but they are not engaged in sex. Generally, fingers do not contact bodies.

Models wear chaps, cowboy hats and biker hats, but usually appear nude. Men have good complexions and show manhood without paying much attention to it. Masculinity appears in assorted sizes.

Tom of Finland is named as the creator of three illustrations from his Finlander Studs series. Another drawing shows two men in a locker-room shower.

The last two pages work as a short photo catalog.

Clear, well-lit photography and meticulous printing of the original yield excellent images for ebook content. Brightness and contrast were adjusted.

All new scans.

This the first ebook we've offered that shows only men appearing male. For decades, Physique Pictorial was sold in adult bookstores and by mail. It's unabashed appreciation of masculine anatomy makes it a gay pinup album, intended to pique homoerotic interest.

NOTE
Although some parts of pictures are obscured on this page, the ebook shows everything that's in the original.

One ebook, delivered by download from your 30th Street Graphics account.