The technology that made film photography possible was developed in the ninetieth century and by the year 1900, it was pretty well established. Cameras were available for purchase and although they weren’t cheap, they were being mass produced and were affordable to anyone who could develop a solid photography business. Photographers with box cameras could be found in almost every city, but Paris’s photographers were the most famous in the world.  

Paris Photography 

  At the turn of the twentieth century and until the second World War, there was a huge cultural shift, especially in continental Europe. Physicality and sexuality were moving out of the deepest shadows and into the dim light. Nowhere was this more evident than in Paris, where photographers were recording the human body, both artistically and for pleasure. Some of these photos focused on athleticism and others were straightforwardly erotic. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, cameras were slow and awkward. Long exposures meant that subjects had to hold their positions for many seconds and sometimes for minutes at a time. That’s why you see so few people smiling; it’s difficult to hold a smile steady.  

“French Postcards”

  These erotic and sporty photos were printed onto postcards and sold from behind counters at bookstores and newsstands throughout the city of Paris. Many tourists returned home with a collection of them, and while the subjects were most often women, some of the postcards featured men. Bodybuilders and boxers were especially popular subjects. These postcards were so artistically shot and so beautiful that many of them have survived to be scanned and uploaded onto the web, and the original cards have become popular collectors items. Today, a little bit of skill with a search engine will help you find vintage bodybuilders online.  

Athletes and Bodybuilders

  Search for images of bodybuilders and wrestlers like Ange Camilli, Georg Hackenschmidt, Bobby Pandour, Eugene Sandow, Otto Arco and Constant Lavaux, or “Constant le Boucher.” You’ll be amazed at what men were able to achieve without modern knowledge of physiology, without supplements and certainly without steroids. These men are big, strong and gorgeous. Look at the 1922 postcard meant to demonstrate resisting exercises. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t be resisting any kind of exercises with that guy!   Like ghosts from early in the modern age, the men in these photos are endlessly fascinating. We have their images, but they’re from a society that’s hard to imagine today. It was a society where every type of sexuality was taboo and could only be hinted at. Everything was below the surface, and classical Greek and Roman art was the only half-way acceptable precedent for images of the human body.   Check out our latest body suits for men here.