Stephen/Etienne's - Fishing is a Dangerous Sport (revisited)

  This article is a complete rework of my original post about this Fishing Storylet by Stephen/Etienne following the unearthing of several more images and an original Kris brochure with thumbnails of 6 images belonging to the set. 

Stephen - Fishing is a Dangerous Sport

 

Stephen produced this delightful little vignette to accompany the brochure entry. His characterisations of innocent/naive, young men (usually blond) who seem completely unspoiled by life and ripe for new experiences at the hands of other men are one of the recurring joys of his work.  

 

Stephen - Fishing is a Dangerous Sport - 1

 I salvaged this first image from the thumbnails in the brochure (which is reproduced in full below). It's poor quality, but suffices to set the scene, showing a scantily clad man, standing by a lake, holding a fishing rod in one hand and reading a very large book with the other. Presumably instructions on how to use his rod (!) It looks as if there's a campfire burning just behind him. 

We can see he's quite muscular, with pecs and nipples showing through his tight T-shirt. He has legs are like the proverbial tree trunks and his skimpy shorts, accordingly, are slit open at the sides. 

 

Stephen - Fishing is a Dangerous Sport - 2

 In picture 2, we see the results of the novice's first attempts at casting his line. At least, I assume he is practising because he's facing away from the water and I would hope he hasn't deliberately cast it over his shoulder! 

He has hooked another fisherman's pants and torn them wide open. The diminutive buns revealed are fairly typical of Stephen's work. His depiction of the novice is rather indifferent, but fear not, much better is to come!

This image looks as if it has been cropped and the brochure illustration confirms it has. Although we can't see the detail in it clearly, it also seems to show the shirt being ripped off the angler's back as well as part of his pants.  

This image has probably been scanned from a magazine, hence the cropping and the dark stain at the top, which would take a better technician than I to remove! I can't ID the source.

 

Stephen - Fishing is a Dangerous Sport - 2 (detail)

Image 2 also circulates in this form, more severely cropped and with the fisherman's skin and other details shaded, primarily to draw attention to his exposure, I suppose! 

This version is from Fizeek Art Quarterly No 22 (1967), a darker variant also exists (even more cropped), taken from Mars No 12
 

Stephen - Fishing is a Dangerous Sport - 3

Stephen's dramatic confrontation between the two fishermen is one of his most forceful and technically convincing images, but it's rarely seen, perhaps because of the lack of context. 

There's a striking contrast between the comprehensively equipped 'pro' fisherman on the right (complete with hooks in his hat) and the intimidated amateur on the left, whose incompetence has caused the conflict. The aggressor has quite a military look about him, but the other man is portrayed as a bumpkin, admittedly with stylish hair, but dressed in trainers and skimpy cut-offs held up by a knotted rope. That rope 'belt' seems ripe for exploitation later on!

The offender has a deliciously sheepish look, quite out of keeping with a relatively mature looking face. He seems highly vulnerable as his T-shirt is pulled upwards and in danger of being ripped off altogether. The drooping waders provide a corresponding hint of advanced undress in the aggressor. 

 

Both men sport interesting bulges, but any more suggestive erotic flavouring is limited to a fish tail* dangling from the basket just above the offender's crotch and a solitary bulrush amongst the reeds groping up behind his legs. (Those reeds look as though they might have been a late addition to disguise an unsuccessful foot). We might add perhaps the handle of the fisherman's 'rod' at a stretch. 

*Tom of Finland also employed the niche eroticism of dangling fish in a less serious encounter (see Part 2).

 

Stephen - Fishing is a Dangerous Sport - 4

The hapless novice is upended and his shorts are unceremoniously removed to reveal his own, peachy bottom. He seems to have sustained a fair amount of collateral damage resisting his attacker, with cuts, bruises and a black eye visible. A trifle disproportionate. No wonder the fish in the basket is drooping!

 

The attacker actually has the upended victim sandwiched between his thighs here, but in order to maintain a decent distance between the delicate areas of the two men, Stephen has had to give him an improbably long right thigh. Signalling what he would like to happen but daren't draw.

 

Stephen - Fishing is a Dangerous Sport - 5

Image 5, taken from the brochure (sorry!) is equally oblique. The novice, facing downwards, is straddled by his opponent, who leans back, ripping his shorts to pieces. The victim's arms draped over the over man's knees are a nice detail, accentuating his utter defeat.

 

 The angry angler still has his waders on, so logically would still have his pants on too, but it doesn't look like it, there's no sign of the black belt, even in this indistinct image. You might also just discern the hint of a lump, or something curved, at his crotch. 

 

To the right behind him is one very naked backside, two very open legs and between them a fish, which I suppose is supplying one of the 'eyes' in the caption. Its phallic purpose is obvious anyway. There's something on the ground, extreme right, which might be the pro's pants or his basket.

 

Article incomplete, 

please come back tomorrow!