 A cover of Grecian Guild Pictorial from its first year. | |
| Categories | Physique magazine |
|---|---|
| Format | digest size[1] |
| Publisher | Guild Press |
| First issue | 1955 |
| Final issue | 1968 |
| Language | English |
| OCLC | 18564261 |
Grecian Guild Pictorial was an American physique magazine published from 1955 until 1968. While ostensibly dedicated to art, health, and exercise, like other physique magazines of the time, it was understood that, in practice, its homoerotic photography and illustrations were almost exclusively created by and for gay men. It differed from other physique magazines in its focus on themes and imagery from Ancient Greece, which was seen by many as a coded reference to homosexuality. It has been described as one of the "gayer" of the physique magazines.[2]
It was one of three magazines at the centre of the landmark 1962 Supreme Court case Manual Enterprises, Inc. v. Day, which found that photographs of nude men were not obscene.
Its main supplier of photos was Bob Mizer's Athletic Model Guild.[3]
The magazine was known for featuring relatively young, slim models, as opposed to the muscular bodybuilders featured in more conservative magazines like Tomorrow's Man. This was mocked by competitor Vim in 1955, which complained that the average model in Grecian Guild Pictorial look like an "undernourished prisoner in concentration camp begging for a crust of bread."[4]
Robert Mapplethorpe, famed for his photography of the male nude, had his first exposure to Hellenistic art and themes, which he would later incorporate into his own photography, from Grecian Guild Pictorial.[5] Mapplethorpe also created a photo-transfer collage using the cover of a 1964 issue of the Pictorial.[6][7]
Grecian Guild Pictorial was the first magazine to publish artwork by MATT, then 16 years old.[8]
- ^ Escoffier, Jeffrey (2009). Bigger Than Life: The History of Gay Porn Cinema from Beefcake to Hardcore. Running Press. pp. 17–18. ISBN 978-0786747535.
- ^ Waugh 1996, p. 217.
- ^ Nealon 2001, p. 123.
- ^ Waugh 1996, pp. 245, 434.
- ^ Robert Cable (9 June 2020). "For Stanford senior Amir Abou-Jaoude, study of ancient Greece opened the modern world of Mapplethorpe". Stanford News.
- ^ "Untitled (Grecian Guild)".
- ^ Richard Meyer (2002). Outlaw Representation: Censorship & Homosexuality in Twentieth-century American Art. p. 177. ISBN 0807079359.
- ^ "Remembering Matt". World of Tom of Finland. Fall 2002. The Dispatch. 2002. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
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