Set of 4 early Lon on New York (Alonzo James Hanagan 1911–1999) photographs of popular male physique model Steve Wengryn taken in Lon’s New York City apartment circa 1957 -1958, with a simple white sheet as the model’s backdrop.
Photographs are 8 x 10 inches gelatin silver with a glossy finish. Photographs are in very good condition with exception that photograph #1 has been creased in the top right corner as shown in images. Original notations on verso of #2 and #3 and on front left margin of #3.
The set of photographs is from the personal collection of nude male art photographs collected from the original photographers in the 1940s and 1950s by the late award winning Broadway and Hollywood costume designer Noel Taylor. Taylor was a personal friend of Lon among the prolific gay arts society of NYC in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
Steve Wengryn was a popular physique model of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Born in Ukraine, he settled with his family in Passaic, New Jersey, where he played high school football and began weight training. His photographs appeared in several physique magazines, and the June 1961 issue of Adonis devoted 27 pages to him in response to reader demand. He also worked in advertising and as an artist’s model, and reportedly had small television roles. Don Whitman of the Western Photography Guild photographed Wengryn in Denver and praised the grace of his posing.
Alonzo James Hanagan (1911–1999), working under the pseudonym "Lon of New York," was a pioneering American physique photographer who helped shape the visual language of mid-century male portraiture. Initially trained as a musician—even serving as an organist at Radio City Music Hall—Hanagan pivoted to photography in the late 1930s under the mentorship of Robert Gebhort, who taught him classical masculine posing and dramatic studio lighting. While many West Coast contemporaries focused on fair-haired, sun-kissed California athletes, Lon carved out a distinct artistic niche by photographing rugged, heavily muscled, and ethnically diverse models, including Mediterranean, Latino, African American, and working-class men.
Operating during an era of intense social suppression, Lon frequently clashed with anti-obscenity laws enforced by local police and the U.S. Post Office. His studio was raided multiple times, resulting in his arrest and the deliberate destruction of countless pristine negatives and prints. To legally sell his work, he routinely painted mock "posing straps" directly onto the photo negatives to hide male nudity. In March 1960, authorities confiscated and destroyed roughly 20,000 prints, 45,000 negatives, and 1,500 color slides from his six-room studio thus, full nude photographs like this one are rare.
Despite these legal battles, Lon continued shooting into the late 20th century. Today, art historians view his extensive catalog, showcased in publications like The Male Ideal, as a fundamental cornerstone of early gay culture and the evolution of the male gaze in fine art photography. Lon is considered part of the group of pioneering photographers responsible for the proliferation of male-on-male gaze photography, what historian of homoerotica Thomas Waugh has called “one of the greatest achievements of gay culture.”