The Artistic Male Centerfold

Last month we did a major photoshoot with a lovely selection of male models. We had them posing in various sexy positions and I also took the opportunity to try and re-create famous artwork and sculptures. Thus, I want to share with you an image of the lovely Martin who is our centerfold at For The Girls this month:

Martin of Urbino, after Titian

We got him to pose in a similar position to that of Titian’s reclining Venus of Urbino.

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Venus of Urbino by Titian

Titian’s painting is famous because it shows the female nude looking straight at the viewer rather than modestly dropping her gaze. It is considered to be an overtly sexual painting because of that aspect. I thought it would be fun to create an inverse representation, where it’s a guy who is reclining, waiting to be desired but also returning the gaze.

I almost got it right although we didn’t get his body position correct. He should have been leaning back on the couch a bit more. We didn’t spend very long getting the photo so I wasn’t being a perfectionist with the pose. Still, I had fun editing it in photoshop, adding the background and making it look painterly. I was quite pleased with the end result.

So imagine my surprise when, as part of my research into the history of women’s porn, I finally found a pic of Jack Thompson’s centerfold in Cleo (November 1972).

Jack Thompson centerfold in Cleo, November 1972, posed as the Venus of Urbino

They’d already been there, done that, the year before I was born. Maybe there is nothing new under the sun. I honestly didn’t know about this pic when I decided to create my “Martin of Urbino” image. Perhaps it shows some kind of common desire to make the male nude into an artistic edifice.

In any case, I had a bit more fun with photoshop and put Martin into Manet’s Olympia.

Martin of Olympia

Olympia is considered to be based on Titian’s Venus. It was deliberately provocative because it went a step further with sexual desire and depicted a prostitute rather than the mythical goddess of love.

While the history of art is resplendent with depictions of the nude, there are few images or sculptures that present us with a woman’s perspective. Female nudes often exist to please the male eye or to depict an idealised idea of femininity. Male nudes are either studies in anatomy or distinctly homoerotic. There’s no tradition of the female gaze in art, at least in the recognised canon. I think that’s why it’s fun to mess around with old masterpieces.

3 Replies to “The Artistic Male Centerfold”

  1. You did a really nice job on the photo shoot. I’m glad to see you shooting your own content, so you have exclusive images. But you are right, sometimes if feels like nothing is new under the sun.

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