Bruce Bellas • Bruce of Los Angeles • Pair of vintage photographs of models Hugh Pendleton and Kim Fox from an iconic Bellas photo shoot outside of Palm Springs mid-1960s.
 
Photographs  are  Gelatin Silver on heavy photographic paper, 8x10 inches, in excellent condition with semi-glossy finish from the original period printing. Hugh Pendleton and Kim Fox were popular male models of the 1960s, who appeared often in physique magazines of the ‘Beefcake’ era. 
 
Bellas was a highly influential male physique photographer on the 1950s and 1960s better known by his pseudonym, Bruce of Los Angeles. He was a pioneer of male physique ‘Beefcake’ photography, moving from a career as a chemistry teacher to documenting bodybuilders and models in Los Angeles starting in the late 1940s.


 
Born in Nebraska in 1909, Bellas's photography career started in 1947 when he began photographing bodybuilders at muscle competitions in Los Angeles. In 1956, Bellas launched his own ‘beefcake’ magazine, "The Male Figure". Among physique photographers, Bellas' work was noted for having a distinctly tongue-in-cheek sensibility. His models always appeared relaxed, confident and at ease in their work.  Bellas also produced a number of early homoerotic 8 mm films with titles such as “Cowboy Washup” and “Big Gun for Hire”. 


 
Bellas was known to travel around the country, finding new models to photograph and also personally delivering nude photographs to customers, since they were liable to be seized by postal inspectors if sent through the mail. His impact on physique photography is largely felt and recognized, and the works of Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, and Bruce Weber are widely considered to be influenced by Bellas' pioneering style. In 1990, the Wessel O'Connor Gallery in New York and the Jan Kesner Gallery in Los Angeles both exhibited a wide array of Bellas' work, furthering modern recognition of his impact.  Bellas died in 1974. To this day he continues to be a favorite among contemporary collectors of mid-20th Century physique photography.

Photographs are originally from the collection of Broadway and Hollywood costume designer Noel Taylor (1913-2010). The photographs has been stored in a photographic folder with limited handling.