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| Steve Masters - 'Silky' The Pride of the Pits (1961) |
The term 'silky smooth' is sometimes applied to the smooth running of a well-tuned, well-lubricated motor engine, but the title of this piece also seems to mainly refer to the garments the guys are wearing. A great deal of effort has gone into making the driver's top look flimsy and clinging. However, silk is a fabric more associated with horse riding than oily motor sport, and in fact, a tear can be seen in the mechanic's top, allowing his nipple to show.
The mechanic's posture, bent over and astride a tyre, has an obvious erotic significance, as does the phallic object right under his nose. The driver in the foreground seems to be preparing to engage gear with him. Even the oil cans on the floor (with leaking nipples) are joining in. A range of spanners on the wall, like the 'kill' badges on the cockpit of an air ace, suggest the mechanic has size capabilities exceeding his outward appearance.
The punchy decoration of the men's outfits with bold, but seemingly random symbols is a typical Steve Masters' technique. He commonly uses shoulder flashes, their body enhancing effect, quite likely inspired by his experience with the fashion industry. The red discs are more obscure, but this one draws attention to the driver's backside, whilst simultaneously half-obscuring the 'sucked-in' look which might imply enlargement on the far side. Its shaping also seems to reference the leather inserts of horse riding pants.
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| Steve Masters - 'Polo' The Pride of the Stables (1961) |
This picture is an obvious companion piece, picking up the horse riding theme and set in the equivalent of The Pits for that sport. The reference to the Sport of Kings in the title provides an erotic pun for UK viewers (see Polo) questioning who Polo is. 'Stable Boy' is an expression of status not age, but Masters' is flirting with dangerous territory.
Fortunately, the erotic messaging here is more muted than in 'Silky', with the Stud simply enjoying the hero worship by a fan who kisses his bicep (with some trepidation, it must be said) and his mount, who kisses his fist. Hmm. He's hiding his riding crop from both of them.
The near-explicit rendering of the Stud's endowment reflects his pleasure at the attention. It is disguised on many surviving versions of this image and may well be toned down on this one too, but the shadow of it on his thigh has escaped 'correction'.
I don't have the coloured version of this image, but the Stud's knee pads look like they may be more red circles (suggesting another aspect to his sexual character). The fit of his shirt resembles the treatment of the driver's in 'Silky'.
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| Steve Masters - First Tattoo (1961) |
Masters' was also interested in the direct decoration of men's bodies with tattoos, although the iconography he used was less bold than his clothing designs, being more intricate and more plentiful. In the picture above, tattooing is depicted as a rite of passage, but interestingly, it's the two mentors that exhibit sexual excitement. The figure in the foreground is actually pointing his out to us. The eagle taking flight out of his pants provides a graphic illustration of the erotic impact of well-considered tattoos.
The initiate seems hesitant, the passive recipient of a badge of ownership. Like college hazing, joining 'the club' entails submitting to the control of the existing members. There's a hint that eagle man may be marking the occasion, too, adding a new 'kill badge' to his extensive collection. It's not a romantic gesture, more like a blood-brother ceremony with an intensely erotic subtext.
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| Steve Masters - Tattooed Man (1962) |
This image shows a man's body completely covered with tattoos. It reflects an obsession reminiscent of the work of some of the Japanese Masters like Hasegawa and Mishima. However, Masters doesn't depict dense blocks of ink like them, his tattoos are delicate and in black and white they seem to emulate the effect of lace and sheer-patterned fabrics. If you look at the tattooed man's thighs, it's as if he's wearing nylon stockings. This image is an intriguing combination of male and female expressions of allure. The man is wearing a cape*, which creates the impression that he is a circus performer. In fact, the whole background is circus-y. To the left of him is a poster about a fire-eater. He's breathing his flames over the tattooed body. That's a rare clue to Master's interest in S&M that inspired his choice of artist's name. This detail offers further insight into the ritualistic significance of tattoos for him. For the avoidance of doubt, the snake's head on the opposite side doubles up (oh so subtly!) as a hand manipulating a cock preparing to anoint the tattooed torso.
* The cape also serves as a device to separate him from the complex background. It, too, is faintly patterned, but will have been a different colour in the original picture.
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| Steve Masters - Trapeze Artists |
Masters'
had a special interest in Circuses and there are surviving images by
him which show trapeze performers simply posing in their tights, without
any additional erotic subtext.
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| Steve Masters - Circus Sneaker (my title) |
This image seems to show an acrobat preparing to deal with a young man, caught sneaking around the 'Big Top'. The sack on the ground suggests he might have run away from home to join the circus, he might end up, end up and wishing he hadn't!
Masters' characteristic 'random' lines create the 'double vision' impression that the youth is bare-topped, and that we can see his lean muscularity. Similarly. the detailing of his jeans around the backside is faint and ambiguous. The acrobat's top blurs the boundaries between clothing and tattoos, with looping lines creating just a sense of his hunky muscles. A 'dimple' on his backside seems to deliberately double up ominously as a flaccid cock. Notice too how the end of his belt is entangled with the youth's feet, suggesting his capture and being drawn into the acrobat's orbit.
I published this image before in a post about little-known vintage spanking images.
I don't know if Masters had a personal connection to the Circus or was just picking up on the popular culture of the 50s, which produced numerous television programmes and films on the subject, (notably 'Trapeze' in 1956 which had a gay subtext). Tom of Finland also produced a Circus series around this time and featured acrobats in tights in some of his best known images.
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| Steve Masters - Circus Sneaker 2 (my title) |
This picture seems to revisit the same subject, except that the young man here seems to be exiting the tent rather than entering it. A thief leaving with his swag, perhaps. This one looks older and more muscular. The picture is obviously cropped, which means that the lines around his bicep and waist, plus the turn-ups of his jeans, are the only indication that he's actually wearing clothes. It's almost as if Masters is imagining the acrobat has X-ray vision. We can only imagine what erotic delights were chopped off by the editing process, but it's still left behind a suggestive image.
The acrobat seems to be waiting to spring his trap. He's drawn with a majestic grandeur, echoed in the eagle rising just behind him. It's a contrast with the bulky build of the previous image, but no less imposing.
His belt is ready in his hand. The end of it curls as if he's just given it a preparatory snap. Stars on the board behind his backside seem to reflect his thoughts. His hand rests on his thigh as if he's itching to stroke himself - or just has done. Masters' has coloured a panel in his tights to simulate a posing pouch and added crease lines to suggest weight. It heightens the ambiguity between clothing and nakedness elsewhere - and possibly cloaks a more overtly erotic outline.
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| Steve Masters -Cover Art for 'BIG' |
All Master's clothing designs look like Circus garb, but I've never seen an acrobat as daring as this. If only. It would give audiences the added suspense of him accidentally unstrapping mid-performance.Masters was the design editor for BIG and all their covers featured 'cubicle' style* images like this
(*see Part 2).
~
Part 4 of this series features a different style used by Steve Masters.
Another post about Steve Masters at 'X'
Steam Baths
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