In 1957 he published a catalog featuring all his men, titled 1000 Model Directory. By the late ’50s Mizer had photographed over 1,000 men, moving from the beach to his quirky Los Angeles studio, where he introduced props including Greek columns, Roman headdresses, rear projection, and famously, his mother’s glassware, for theatrical Hollywood effect. In 1951 Mizer launched Physique Pictorial, America’s first indisputably gay magazine, bringing his photos of top bodybuilders to grateful readers worldwide. They weren’t nude but showed as much as the law allowed in 1945. Before Mizer there were bodybuilders and men who photographed them, but AMG photos, even those of the same men, were different, subtly provocative, discreetly aimed at a gay audience.
In December of that year he formed the Athletic Model Guild to market his photos, and “physique photography” was born.
Dian Hanson’s encyclopedic knowledge about the Athletic Model Guild and the Bob Mizer Foundation’s incredible store of riches guarantees a satisfying read and a helpful guide for physique photography historians.īob Mizer began taking photographs of strapping young men on Muscle Beach in L.A.'s Venice Beach back in 1945. Nothing makes us happier than the combination of Bob Mizer’s sensational photos and Taschen’s beautiful book production.
