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(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
Written by Paul Varnell, WiG Contributing Writer
Dec 2, 2009
A hunk from “American Hunks”
Photo: Courtesy Arsenal Pulp Press
“American Hunks” is an important contribution to the underdeveloped social history of the visual treatment of the well-built male body, as documented in drawings and photography since the middle of the 19th century.
It is a beautifully produced volume of 350 pages that includes about 450 photographs and drawings of wrestlers, “strongmen,” bodybuilders and other muscular men from 1860 to 1970 — more or less up to the very young Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Most of the photographs are in black and white but most of the drawings are in color.
The images come from a wide range of sources: mid-20th century physique magazines, photographs, pulp paperback book covers, movie stills, and commercial advertising. A quarter to a third of the photos are of nudes. Many physique photographers took both nude and non-nude photographs, limiting the circulation of the nudes to trusted clients.
The interesting thing here is the number of men who were comfortable doffing all their clothes for the camera. With just a couple of exceptions, the men were not remarkably endowed. They were proud of their bodies.
Many of the nude photos were taken out of doors but others are studio photographs illustrating classic (if stereotypical) poses, sometimes with props such as swords, foils or weights. A few of the poses would now be labeled “camp,” but camp is in the mind of the beholder; they were probably not thought camp at the time the photos were taken.
Some of the bodybuilders are still well known. John Grimek, Larry Scott, Chris Dickerson, Bill Pearl, Steve Reeves and the early Eugen Sandow. Others deserve more fame than they now have: Roy Hilligenn, George Paine and Raul Pacheco among them.
It is clear that, over the century, body styles changed — from the thick-torsoed strongman to the V-shaped body of the modern bodybuilder. Men’s bodies became more muscular as nutrition improved and knowledge of the science of progressive weight training spread. At first the men seem to have focused on their arms and chest, but later the whole body became a focus of attention.
Perhaps the last to be developed were calf muscles, although John Grimek is an impressive early exception. As early as the late 1950s and then almost pervasively after the late 1960s, anabolic steroids came into widespread use among bodybuilders, resulting in muscularity that was previously unattainable.
Most readers will probably first thumb through the book looking for hot, naked men. But they should go back and read the informative captions about the models and photographers appended to each picture. There is a lot of social history in those brief essays by editor David Chapman, the premier historian of this material. It is safe to ignore the pretentious “cultural studies” nonsense in Brett Josef Grubisic’s introductory essay. Mostly, just enjoy the pictures.
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