Lifetime Achievement John Palatinus
John Palatinus is one of the first Beefcake Photographers of the 1950s. He pioneered a new genre of male art – known as physique photography—during a time known for repression of gay men and women.
Born in 1929 in South Bend, Indiana, he worked as a window display designer. In 1954, he began photographing young bodybuilders, using light and shadow to highlight the topography of the male physique - often using posing straps to carefully conceal genitalia.
His work first appeared in Tomorrow’s Man, a pocket-sized bodybuilding magazine. By 1956, having moved to Greenwich Village, he continued to be featured in Tomorrow’s Man and did a thriving nationwide mail-order business.
What John and his contemporaries considered art was viewed as profanity by conservative, pre-Stonewall authorities. As a result, an army of US postal authorities and NYC Police raided Palatinus’ studio, confiscating all of his photographs, negatives, cameras and equipment. John was tried and convicted. His art was thought to be lost forever.
At 82, John now lives in Palm Springs, and may be one of the last living photographers from the 1950s golden era of physique photography. Of course, by today’s standards, his arrest is ridiculous. Unfortunately, creative men and women labeled pornographers by conservative, small-minded communities rarely live to see their work recognized as ART.
John Palatinus is one of the lucky ones. He has lived to experience the revival of his works in a wave of enthusiasm throughout the world of art, photography and, of course, the gay community. Some of his original work has emerged from the underground, resulting in shows across the globe
–from Paris and Berlin to San Francisco, New York and Key West. In fact, there is a movement afoot calling for the pardon of John Palatinus.
Greater Palm Springs Pride joins the international art and LGBT community by recognizing John’s lifetime achievements as a revolutionary artist - a man persecuted for his art in a time noted for its repression of gay men and women.
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