Dave Martin Photograph #2 of model Zaro Rossi circa 1953 Vintage Gelatin Silver Print 8x10 inches.
 
Photographer Dave Martin of San Francisco male nude physique photograph of model Zaro Rossi in a natural outdoor California setting. Photograph is vintage original gelatin silver on heavy photographic paper taken in 1953.
 
Model is identified in the documentary film “Dave Martin: The Physique Photographer Who Captured Gay Desire” preserved in the archives at Stamford University.
 
Dave Martin (1923–2014), known professionally as “Dave of San Francisco,” was an important American photographer of the male physique. Born in Pennsylvania, he moved to San Francisco in 1948 and opened a studio on Sacramento Street in 1951. Largely self-taught, Martin was encouraged by the pioneering physique photographer Lon of New York. His subjects included servicemen, police officers and college athletes—particularly athletes associated with Stanford University—whom he photographed in both carefully lit studio portraits and natural outdoor settings. Martin called his work “Athletic Photography”.
 
Martin’s photographs are distinguished by their combination of classical composition, athletic masculinity and relaxed sensuality. His outdoor studies often placed nude or nearly nude models against beaches, rocks and other Northern California landscapes, allowing the human figure to become part of the natural terrain. In 1955, Martin was prosecuted for mailing male nude photographs, yet he continued working and created an extensive record of mid-century physique culture during an era of censorship and persecution. Approximately 2,600 prints associated with his work are held by Stanford University, while additional examples are preserved by the Bob Mizer Museum and Photographic Archives.
 
The model is Zaro Dolman Rossi (1934–2005) who also modeled for artist and photographer George Quaintance, becoming one of the young models associated with Quaintance’s Rancho Siesta period in Arizona.
 
Rossi was born in Los Angeles on September 29, 1934 and became an accomplished high-school gymnast and diver as well as a teen competition bodybuilder. He served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He was photographed by Dave Martin in 1953, when he was eighteen or nineteen and 5 feet 8 inches tall. Stanford University archives holds nine photographs from that outdoor photo session. After military service, Rossi operated his family’s business, Rossi’s Patio, until retirement. He died in Arizona in 2005 at aged 71.
 
A specialized Quaintance source describes Rossi as a Los Angeles-born teenage bodybuilder modeled for Martine and Quaintance who became Quaintance’s friend and neighbor in Arizona. Contemporary material connects him with Quaintance’s 1953 painting Sunset.
 
Photograph is 8 × 10 inches on heavy paper with a Glossy finish. It is from a collection of original "Beefcake" photography previously owned by the late award winning Broadway and Hollywood costume designer Noel Taylor.