BRUCE OF LA’s vintage male physique magazine from the 1970/80s : THE MALE FIGURE

Bruce Harry Bellas  aka BRUCE OF LOS ANGELES was one of the most important photographers in the middle of the last century for his work with male physiques and nudes. He started his working life in his home state of Nebraska as a chemistry teacher,  but after WW2 he moved to LA where he began photographing body building competitions. From there he never looked back and in 1956 he started his own magazine THE MALE FIGURE after which he never looked back. Bruce’s work had a very distinctly campy, tongue-in-cheek sensibility which makes it very collectable these days

In those early days Bruce travelled around the country, finding new models to photograph, and at the same time he was personally delivering nude photographs to customers, since they were liable to be seized by postal inspectors if sent through the mail.

An extensive archive of Bellas’ nude male physique photographs exists today, largely intact. 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

Now some editions of his highly collectable magazine are in sale from EBay for as little as $45 …. these are some of our favorites.