Photographer BOB MIZER’s Physique Pictorial may have been founded in 1945  but the atheistic in his stunning images of American photography are just as relevant today.  His studio in Pico-Union was known as the Athletic Model Guild (AMG) and that was where he made erotic photographs of muscular men and bodybuilders.

.Mizer marketed Physique Pictorial as a fitness magazine to achieve widespread distribution. Still, Mizer secretly targeted its content to an underground audience of queer men. Unique for the time, Mizer dabbled in color photography and self-produced original color photographs. Mizer’s Physique Pictorial offered more than a source of entertainment for consumers. The photo journal helped raise awareness in the queer community regarding the emergence of a queer liberation movement.

It was all smooth sailing as many considered Mizer’s photographs graphic and IT garnered law enforcement attention. In 1947, Mizer was arrested for photographing a seventeen-year-old model and was sentenced to six months in prison.

THE BOB MIZER FOUNDATION has now relaunched  the quarterly Physique Pictorial magazine, the iconic publication that stopped in 1990  They are creating a clean modern look for the publication, hoping to generate a fine art vibe for the production (this IS NOT porn nor beefcake).  You can subscribe and buy copies HERE

Also Mizner’s photographs are on display in the Museum of Contemporary Art, located in Los Angeles, and the Museum of Modern Art, located in New York.