The Jim French Diaries
Wow. Just wow. This is, in every sense a "heavy" book. That is, it is the ultimate coffee table tome of gay male erotic art photography. It’s also "heavy" in the ’60s sense of being full of profound insights, both in the extensive interviews physique photography collector Robert Mainardi conducted with Colt Studio founder Jim French; and in the depth, definition, color precision and placement of the perfect male specimens depicted.
Oh yes: It also weighs a ton. This is truly gay male erotica elevated to High Art. German publisher Bruno Gmünder deserves the highest accolades for such careful reproductions of these gorgeous photographs. This book ranks with the finest products of art publishers such as Rizzoli, Taschen or Abrams.
Even the paper quality reflects the care that was taken to ensure that these vintage photographs would receive the loving attention they deserve. It’s very heavy stock -- just about the heaviest I’ve ever seen in a "trade" book; that is, one meant for the general public. It also has a wonderful flatness; I’ve always hated art books that were glossy. In these, the light -- natural or from a reading lamp -- doesn’t reflect off the page.
In the appropriately named Jim French Diaries, the elder statesman of gay porn sounds off on a number of topics. He’s refreshingly honest -- with age comes wisdom. He doesn’t stint to give his real opinion on everything from the relative lack of polarity of black models to the way he would size up a potential Colt model.
Defining the Male Ideal
As this image (only partial; no frontal nudity on this site) shows, from the beginning, French had a certain ideal in mind. Many of his models are blond. But even the brunets or raven-haired share a combination of masculinity, muscle and model-handsomeness.
Like Andy Warhol and so many of the major artists of the late 20th century, French began his career as a commercial photographer in New York. He soon gravitated to the clandestine world of gay erotica.
It was way before Stonewall. The U.S. mail was a fierce guardian of public morals, never hesitant to open people’s mail or to prosecute "pornographers" who showed a flash of a public hair or whose work was just too sexy.
Gay pornography was already being defined by the twin poles of Bob Mizer and Tom of Finland. Mizer took as his subjects Angelenos, many of them straight, who may have played sports, but did not lift weights, which was a marginalized activity limited to a few gym rats. He posed them in various fantasy situations, from Greek gods (courtesy of a cheap pedestal or two) or farmer or soldier.
Tom of Finland was an illustrator, not a photographer. But his aesthetic of hugely built, superbly muscular, defined, generally hairless studs became the standard that is still followed today.
French took his main cues from Tom. He sought out models who were cut and defined, like Mr. Olympia champion Chris Dickerson. He took his Hassalblad camera out of the studio and into the great outdoors, where his models became part of the natural landscape. But he also used the standard male fantasies, such as cowboys, sailors and roughnecks.
Iconic Homoerotic Imagery
Like Tom of Finland, French extended the standard repertoire of fantasy situations. In particular, he took leather, which had been underground, sleazy and almost anti-sexy in its sexiness (and still is, to the most hardcore fetishists), and cleaned it up.
It’s apparent to even the most clueless observer that his leathermen are not seriously into the "lifestyle," but rather, playing dress-up. This way of depicting what was formerly a dark, cultish fetish has given us the highly stylized imagery of contemporary gay porn, where the leather accoutrements are as precise and polished as a Paris runway show. This way of portraying leather, as an enhancement to a defined, muscular physique, is the progenitor of events like New York’s upcoming Black Party, where professional men open their leather drawer (and every gay man has one) to dress "heavy," as the party’s poster always advises, for the evening.
For some, this represents the domestication of gay sex. What was formerly transgressive and a threat to the established order has become as dangerous as a Calvin Klein underwear ad. But even the skeptics have to admit that the guys French has chosen for his lens are damn hot.
Personification of Male Beauty
I’m sure that many men object to French’s way of seeing as an objectification of only a certain type of man -- and not even the sexiest in their eyes. And yet, even in this diversified age of the bear, the silver daddy and the twink, French’s photographs remain iconic statements of male beauty, as timeless as the Farnese Hercules, the ancient sculpture that is the prototype of the idealized Western man.
The emphasis, it’s true, is on "beauty." French’s models are nearly all beautiful; Adonises to be worshipped, without blemish, scar or other imperfection. The vast majority, following in the path of traditional physique photography, are hairless, the better to show off their musculature (or the less masculine to those who like their guys hirsute).
Most of them have those eight-pack abdominals that the rest of us can only dream about having. And they all share what I consider the defining trait of the French model: an enormous, ample, round, firm, hairless, inviting bubble butt. Throughout the book, there are many tantalizing examples.
If a comparison can be made, these men -- at least in these poses and situations -- are the male equivalent of the blonde bombshell, the kind of va-va-voom voluptuous, curvaceous women personified by Marilyn Monroe.
Again, some people are turned off by this. They consider these guys artificial. They prefer "natural" men with even a little (or a lot) of girth. Well, each to his own as they say.
Dishing the Models
In the text portion, which consists mostly of transcripts of extensive interviews between French and a knowledgeable collector of such photographs, French honestly discusses the various models he has worked with over the years.
I love when he plainly says that a certain man (whom most of us would consider the epitome of hotness) didn’t measure up to his standards. In the matter of Raymond Dragon (pictured here), a trained dancer-turned-menswear designer-turned porn actor, French describes a situation where, to be polite, it didn’t work out.
French originally started a studio named Luger (these names put me in mind of Laramie cigarettes on "The Simpsons" in their rigid associations of masculinity and the Wild West). When he moved west, he began Colt, which moved into films and continues to flourish today.
French’s unique vision was to take the hottest, most physically perfect men and place them in highly stylized, even romantic settings and situations. The juxtaposition of machismo and sweetness gives the photos an added edge, a depth that other gay erotic photographers lack.
My only "complaint" (a minor one) about this wonderful, essential book is that some of the interviews could have been better edited. They sometimes ramble. But then again, every time I got to a page of text, I was eager to get back to gazing at those dreamy pictures of sublime male beauty.
by Robert Mainardi
Jim French Diaries
Giant hardcover, thick paper stock, 352 pages, all beautifully reproduced full color, $123
Bruno Gmunder, publisher
