Vince Aletti.
"The male gaze going where it wasn’t supposed to during the charged subterranean years after World War II and before the mid-1960s. That is, not at women. Compiled from a personal trove by critic and curator Vince Aletti, this collection of photographs showcases multiple archetypes from sailors...
| Format: | Book |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
[California?] :
Elk Books,
2010.
|
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | "The male gaze going where it wasn’t supposed to during the charged subterranean years after World War II and before the mid-1960s. That is, not at women. Compiled from a personal trove by critic and curator Vince Aletti, this collection of photographs showcases multiple archetypes from sailors and leather-jacketed rough trade to fresh-faced lettermen and nascent movie stars. Poetic pairings as aphrodisiac, unspooling like a visually syncopated scrapbook of young male pulchritude. Dudes who were cool and looked cool without trying too hard. Blue-collar, white ethnic, from another time and place, and with an air of un-self-consciousness woefully missing in this day and age. The taboo and suppression of the era mixed with the thinly veiled and sometimes completely unmasked homoerotic nature of these striking portraits evinces a different world that burbled beneath mainstream society prior to today’s anodyne homogenization on one hand and muscle queen grotesquerie on the other. At play is a refreshing almost wholesome lubricity that pays tribute to decidedly not cheesy handsomeness in all its iterations. Pomade and brilliantine abound, as do moles, salient collarbones, strong necks, smooth chests, hairy chests, shiny backs, nice biceps, heavy brows, wide lips, Roman noses, and dark eyes. The opposite of perfect, and that’s a big part of their appeal and what makes them perfect."--Publisher. |
|---|---|
| Item Description: | Cover title. The Cushing Library/Women & Gender Studies copy was acquired as part of The Don Kelly Research Collection of Gay Literature and Culture. |
| Physical Description: | 48 unnumbered pages : all portraits (some color) ; 22 cm |