#outdoor nudes

Enjoying the secluded riverside on a glorious afternoon, cool water and dappled shade, a pleasure today as it has always been; this Plüschow photograph captures the atmosphere perfectly!

Thomas Eakins making an appearance in his own photograph (the clothed figure on the left), with an unknown model, and J. Laurie Wallace, 1883. Wallace can be seen in another shot on this same wooden platform.

Another photograph by Thomas Eakins in 1883, showing two of his art students boxing while four more spectate - they have shifted positions between this and the first shot posted.

In these dreary grey days of winter not yet stirring into spring, let us look upon an idyllic scene of summer, think of the glorious Mediterranean sun on bare skin, the smell of herbs on a welcome breeze, hum of a thousand unseen insects in the air. Perhaps they can hear the sea, maybe the beach begins below their feet, close enough to the lapping waves that there’s a tang of windblown salt when they lick their lips.
These pictures allow us to imagine ourselves, for a moment not only in another time but another place; to think how it must have been to pose for these pictures, which still delight viewers over a century on.

A postcard from the 1910s, published by the firm Galifi, and featuring a photograph by Wilhelm von Gloeden taken in the 1890s. The model on the right is Pascquale Stracuzzi, I regret I cannot recognise his companion from behind! 

The ever-lovely Il Moro, Pancrazio Buccini, with his handsomely proportioned and elegant companion - what poise in the way he hollows his back! We’ve seen these two together here, and again here, and this model photographed alone, too. Perhaps one day we will discover his name.

Photographed by Thomas Eakins circa 1883, this may or may not be from the same set as the other male nudes by the shoreline, as the boat so prominent in those shots is absent here, and the water much less still.
As something of a beachcomber myself, I cannot help but wonder what intriguing thing the man on the right (John Laurie Wallace) has found washed up by the waves!

Thomas Eakins and John Laurie Wallace pose nude by the shoreline circa 1883 - a lovely and much less often-seen shot to go with the more widely circulated rear view of the same two men,

Taken around 1899 by Giovanni Crupi, friend of von Gloeden, and clearly enamoured of the style and subject of his works, so like is some of his own photography.

Another of the early outdoor photography by Thomas Eakins, the second I’ve posted from this photoshoot featuring his art students bathing (the first can be found here) - I wonder have you all also seen the 1885 oil painting he used these as reference for? http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swimming_hole.jpg 

My immediate thought on seeing this von Gloeden photograph, ‘was there not a dog?’ proved right - on investigation I’ve found that there are two very similar pictures : the first here shows a black labrador-type draped sleepily over the rocks, by this second shot he has got up and gone. It is more than editing, as the right-hand model’s head has slightly turned.

Thomas Eakins (left) and John Laurie Wallace, 1883. Pleasantly ordinary-looking gentlemen, both - not perfect boyish youth or highly developed athletic bodies, just average chaps looking very natural and relaxed in front of the camera.

Four confident and classically elegant models clasp hands and pose in leafy unspoilt countryside, for the camera of Guglielmo Plüschow around the turn of the last century - could they be the same group seen enjoying a similar setting in thisphotograph?

A skilfully composed garden scene by Wilhelm von Gloeden, taken toward the end of the 19th century at his villa in Taormina, Sicily.

A third from Thomas Eakins’ 1883 outdoor photography session with his art students, the others can be seen hereand here.

Part of a series of German outdoor nudes by Max Koch, 1897.

J. Laurie Wallace (right) and an unidentified model, posing for Thomas Eakins in 1883 - another reference photograph taken the same day can be seen here.

A fascinating picture from the 1910s, three well-muscled young men photographed outdoors in an intriguing pose - what scene they’re depicting, or what story trying to tell, I admit I have no idea!