To my readers......

SITE UPDATE NOTICE

Thanks for visiting mitchmen, home of Mitchell's Gay Art

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Message updated 25th June 2023

Wednesday 29 February 2012

Why I like Rugby 6

More interesting bulges from Riki Flutey

Tuesday 28 February 2012

Why I like Rugby 5

Proof that the era of sexy shorts is not over. Aaron Schingler of Wales stars in a nice 'putting men in their place' image.

Monday 27 February 2012

Why I like Rugby 4

Modern clingy tops with cleverly designed patterns are great physique enhancers. Combined with sensible short shorts too, who'd want to hide those meaty thighs under flapping polyester?

Sunday 26 February 2012

Why I like Rugby 3

Playing with the big boys. These lads seem to have the right idea!

Saturday 25 February 2012

Why I like Rugby 2

Lawrence Dellaglio
It seems not even Rugby players wear jock straps any more,
but snug white briefs are not a bad substitute.
Another beautiful combination of upper body strength and muscular legs.

Friday 24 February 2012

Why I like Rugby

Sonny Bill Williams of Crusaders (NZ)
Magnificent thighs (hooray for short shorts!) and muscular arms (also shown to good advantage by the trim shirt design). Bill also is a boxer.
Beautifully male.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Attacked in the night

I do not know who the artist responsible for this gloriously erotic, little epic. I particularly love the arched torso of the naked victim as he recoils in horror from the gun. There's a reflection of this in the curve of the gunman's body, two curves that have a hidden conjunction at their groins with results we can only speculate about.

It's the sort of gratuitously homo-erotic scene that would be slipped into a Hollywood gangster movie as the 'squealer' get his reward. Attacked in his bed while sleeping - the ultimate time of vulnerability.

Here the attacker is stripped to the waist and his trousers have a slight sheen, suggesting that they might be silky, pyjama bottoms (an incidental treat to stoke the imagination of fabric enthusiasts!). This may mean that it is the captive who is the visitor - a pick-up lured into a trap - or a burglar getting an unexpectedly personal welcome.

The characterisation of the two men adds to the story. The 'top' is a slender man, lean and mean judging by the coarse way he casually smokes his cigarette while taunting the tattooed, muscular hunk who has fallen into his hands (and into his bed!) - and who now squirms and trembles fearfully between his legs. Superb!

If you know the artist please let me know.

Monday 20 February 2012

Depictions of Short Men - 2

Another example of short legged men from the great artist Etienne.
Etienne - Cadets
In this example from Etienne's 'Cadets' series, the naked cadet awaiting the pinning of his medal has limbs that look in proportion but are strangely chunky. The clumpy boots contribute to this effect but his legs are actually shorter than average (see below). Etienne was noted for his diminutive stature so I'm citing this in support of my self-imaging theory (see last post). It doesn't matter a toss of course, I love the concept of this picture showing the military bullying of an exceptionally handsome young man.


This man in this photo gives a comparison of human proportions. He actually looks slightly short too, but his legs are noticeably longer than Etienne's Cadet if you measure them. The yardstick I use is (groin to knee) and (knee to ankle) roughly the same as (groin to lower junction of the pecs). However in the picture below I have lengthened his legs by 10% and this produces the elegant taller man's build.



All of these variations in proportions are equally realistic and normal, it becomes a matter of personal taste which you prefer.

Saturday 18 February 2012

Depictions of Short Men-1

Regular readers will know that I find clothing just as sexy as nudity and this rather real picture of an encounter between two men is a good example. I haven't identified the artist (info welcome) but the cigarettes and macho postures suggest Spain to me.

The character leaning against the wall has rather short legs and this, combined with the chunky trainers and other youthful clothing, gives him a boyish appearance compared with the rather adult looking man in the foreground.

Texts on drawing human figures usually lay down strict guidelines for the relative sizes of different parts of the body, based on classical Greek proportions. Those formulae would produce longer legs than those shown here, but of course all men are not the same, particularly in the leg department and this man's anatomy is perfectly credible.

I have a theory that figures drawn by self taught artists tend to reflect their own stature, since their own bodies are the most readily available models to draw from.
More next time.

Tuesday 14 February 2012

A-Z of Fetish Artists -Quaintance

The letter 'Q' has only one artist who meets the criteria for my A-Z - George Quaintance, whose 1950's images of Latin men and sexy cowboys with distinctively sensual faces and bodies are so well known, it hardly seems appropriate to consider him a fetish artist and yet....
Quaintance's art abounds with erotically-flavoured imagery of death and danger and men menaced by deadly weapons. It is often disguised as Hollywood costume epic material and devoid of explicit sexual content but nevertheless, it is highly charged for fetishists who take the trouble to look.

Quaintance - Bacchant

Take 'Bacchant' (meaning a drunken reveller), for example. It's a pretty picture forging a fanciful connection between an attractive young man and a still-life of grapes. An allegory for the irresistible appeal of alcohol? Perhaps. Or if you prefer it's a naked, young man held in sensual bondage by a plant whose leaves appear to be intimately brushing his body as well as covering it. The tendrils wound round his limbs are a good deal more subtle than your average 'tentacle' picture but are obviously in charge of the situation. Plants, here are like Platter's devils - psychological fetishes, alluring fantasies impossible to fulfil in reality.

Quaintance - Aztec Sacrifice

'Aztec Sacrifice' is a more well known picture and has obvious fetishistic elements embellished with a glossy and glamorous presentation. The bondage is rather lifeless and fake, but it's sexual intent is pretty obvious from in the shapely golden G-string worn by the spread-eagled captive. He actually appears to be more of an entranced high priest than a victim, coldly presiding over the execution of the two luscious, near naked, young men who lie at his feet pierced by arrows. Freud would have something to say about all that, but for those who appreciate the more extreme varieties of fetish imagery no interpreting is necessary.

Quaintance - Slave Market

Slave Market shows men chained together in pairs under the whip of the overseer. It's possible see these last two pictures as representations of gay oppression but I cannot substantiate that impression.

This slave picture is rather too posed, but the little cameo of the two collapsed slaves injects some artistic quality, drama and also some daring erotic suggestion via the positioning of the dark haired slave's head and left arm. As always in this era, seek out the hidden eroticism!
Given the oppressive environment in which he worked, Quaintance's work is quite astonishing. These pictures don't really do justice to his technical skill. All in all I'm quite happy to list him alongside our other fetish exponents.
I'm not aware of any website for Quaintance, but Googling images brings up plenty of examples.
There is a review of the Taschen book of his complete works at Homodersiribus
 
For other articles in this series click on the A-Z label below.

Monday 13 February 2012

Curiosities

Reese Ridout
Isn't it funny how some model's feet look like their chair legs?
Picture courtesy of Randy Blue

Sunday 12 February 2012

Men Sharing Clothes 10 - Sports Shorts


Short shorts like these must feature heavily in most gay men's early frustrated, longings but they rarely turn up in beefcake art so when two identical ones come along at once you reason that these guys must have been sharing. Oily bodies in a hot studio sharing close fitting shorts - hmmm. Neither of the models looks amused . Or perhaps it's because they've been told to fight each other.


The pockets on the shorts imply a leisure function rather than a sporting one, but it's a cute design that captures the erotic essence of boxing shorts - the chunky waistband and front label. I like the fact that both models have chunky noses suggesting fight experience. Surprisingly these shots don't take advantage of the magical effect short shorts have on men's thighs. I failed to discover the studio for a link (info welcome)
For other articles in this series click on 'sharing' in the label list below

Friday 10 February 2012

Thom Magister

 
These terrific images were used to promote Thom Magister's book 'The Slave Journals'. The leather slavery concept is not something I've ever hankered after (M or S!). I confess I prefer my sadism to be less well organised (see last post!). However, Thom's very readable article about it at The Slave Journals is informative and an interesting look back over the last 50 years of leather culture.
 

Thursday 9 February 2012

More Riding Crop Justice


M607 'Punished With A Riding Crop' by Mitchell

This is another variation on the riding crop theme, which I first published some years ago. I think there may already be a cropped version of it some way back in the archives of this blog. The characterisation of the two men, one haughty the other rough, would fit into an stable groom whipping scenario but I'd have to amend the dungeon-style wrist irons into something more likely to be found in a stable! I was pleased with the way the tough guy turned out.

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Administering Justice by Riding Crop

Mitchell - Instant Justice

This picture dates from a fairly fertile 'domination' period some time back.
A young hooligan is chastised by a leather enthusiast. 
The position depicted in this picture is rather impractical for punishment purposes 
but I think it looks good.


Romaine by Simon Barnes

Riding crops have an appeal for me which I can't really explain, the only horses I've 'ridden' are the ones on fairground roundabouts! These pictures by Simon Barnes link to Regency settings.

Jon Richards by Simon Barnes

I don't do historical scenes but these models prompted me to sketch out some ideas around 'horse whipping the stable boy' - look out for it at my Yahoo! group (link in sidebar)

Models by Simon Barnes at Hotsnapz, Jon Richards image courtesy of Beautiful

Monday 6 February 2012

Noah at 'Bound Guys'

When it comes to visual appeal, I've always preferred the muscular physique - as witness my last posting! But I've also found that being able to slide your arms around a slender waist is a pretty good feeling too. In this group of pictures from the archives at Bound Guys, Noah shows that skinny boys also can look sexy in jeans.

Faded jeans and belts with big buckles have always been a winning combination for me, it's the cowboy connection, I think. Noah is a most unlikely cowboy, but clever photography and a natty harness of white cord has endowed him with an arresting pair of thighs that would look good astride any bronco.


Noah's classic style jeans are working well here too, showing off lots of beautiful curves from the slender waist downwards. The photography at Bound Guys doesn't have the glossy, polish of professional studios but they know how to use rope to make a body look sexy. The harness cord diving between Noah's cute little buns is a real turn on.


The way the ropes and clothing complement the shape of the body in this picture is very clever. Two cords running round Noah's neck converge and lead the eye downwards towards his waist where they line up with the 'buns divider' pulling the jeans up tight into his crotch, which is unambiguously erotic. 

The restraining cords curving around his midsection nicely accentuate his slender trunk and from here, on either side of the centre line, Noah's hips curve outwards, down around his buttocks to turn in and meet at the erotic cleft of his buttocks. It creates a pear-shaped, almost feminine, lower body effect which is unexpectedly sexy. 

The curve of the belt and the jeans 'cupping' his buns add to the sense of voluptuous bulk, if that's the right word. It's hard to describe without sounding pretentious but the erotic effect is compulsive. 
The highly submissive pose doesn't do any harm either!

By the way, the noose-like construction of the loop around his neck is non functional,
 but does add a little sinister flavour. 
 

In the final picture, the effect is quite different, the mop of hair serving to accentuate the diminutive scale of Noah's slender body and pert little buttocks. Small but perfectly formed as they say. 
 
Bound Guys covers virtually every type of model you can think of, young, old, big, small, dark, ginger....etc etc. Have a look. There's a selection in my previous postings (search for Bound Guys)

Saturday 4 February 2012

Rugby Hero

Scotland 6 England 13


Chris Robshaw

I don't know which is the more delicious, the score or England's perky new captain.

Friday 3 February 2012

My Fetish Initiation

bondage featuring arm and leg fold ropes, ring gag, blindfold, tit clamps, cbt, ball stretching
Classic William Higgins Bondage


This was the first true bondage image I ever saw. I stumbled across it hidden amongst conventional, arty, beefcake photos in a battered magazine and was amazed. It showed me things, that in my innocence, I had never dreamed about, like the doubled-back leg tie and noose-like loops stretching out the ball sack. The copy I saw was a small and pretty poor quality image, part of an advert for a William Higgins magazine, so it was a while before I noticed the ring gag and tit clip details, but to be honest I don't think the picture really needs these extras. The boyish looking model is not my ideal either, but the sheer helplessness of this captive, forced by his bondage into a provocative body display, makes this picture still both powerful and sexy - and the neat, economical roping is a delight.

Image originally sampled from the (now defunct) archive at Vintage Male Bondage.

Update Jan 2023: I unearthed the images below in a magazine called "299 Bound Men"
Naked man legs flexed and tied, balls stretched by noose loops
Classic Bondage - Close up of cbt and frog tied legs

Seated man tied hands behind back, legs flexed and cock tied
Classic Bondage - Nude with Tit Clamps, cbt and frog-tied legs


Wednesday 1 February 2012

Curiousities


Anton Harri

Isn't it strange how some models' cocks look like their bath taps?
Picture courtesy of HotHouse