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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Curiosities

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

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