Английская Википедия:Al Urban (photographer)
Albert J. Urban, Jr. (1917-1992)[1] was an American physique photographer. His work appeared widely in physical culture and physique magazines of the 1940s and 1950s. Scholar Thomas Waugh described Urban as one of the "pillars of the postwar golden age of gay physique culture".Шаблон:Sfn
Biography
Little is known of Urban's upbringing or personal life. According to an article in the Chicago Daily News, he attended St. Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey, and played on the basketball team.[1]
A profile of Urban in a 1954 issue of Tomorrow's Man includes a photo of Urban with his daughter, though nothing more is known of her or of Urban's marital history.[1]
Urban, like most of the prominent photographers of the physique era, was gay.Шаблон:Sfn
He lived and operated out of New Jersey and New York for most of his life, with brief periods spent in Chicago and Hollywood.[1]
Photography
Urban began his career as a commercial photographer.Шаблон:Sfn In 1937, he began advertising his physique photographs in the back pages of Strength & Health magazine.Шаблон:Sfn At the time, Urban shot mostly nude photographs.Шаблон:Sfn The catalogue sheets sent to customers were doctored with "inked-in" posing straps, but these would be omitted from full-sized prints purchased from the catalogue.Шаблон:Sfn
Urban's photography appeared in the first issues of Bob Mizer's Physique Pictorial in 1951, the first of a wave of physique magazines showcasing physique photography and aimed at a homosexual audience.Шаблон:Sfn In the magazine's second issue, dated November 1951, Urban announced he would be publishing his own physique magazine, though it failed to materialize.[1]
Urban's career effectively ended with his final criminal conviction in 1960, which resulted in a one-year sentence and the seizure of most of his work, however he was seen to be advertising in magazines as late as 1963.Шаблон:Sfn
Legal troubles
Like many physique photographers, Urban faced recurring legal troubles in relation to obscenity laws. In 1947, he was arrested and jailed for sending nude photographs through the mail, a violation of the Comstock laws.Шаблон:Sfn In 1956, he was prosecuted again and given a $5,000 fine and a 20-year suspended sentence, which he successfully appealed.Шаблон:Sfn On July 1, 1960, Urban's studio was raided by police, who seized his negatives and prints and charged him with possession of obscene materials.[1] Urban succeeded in having the possession charge overturned on appeal, after having already served three months of hard labor.[1] He continued to fight to have his negatives returned to him, and wrote to customers seeking donations to fund his legal case. In 1963, the physique magazine MANual, published by Lynn Womack's Guild Press, printed an "Urgent Appeal" to its readers on Urban's behalf, referring to him as the "dean" of American physique photography.Шаблон:Sfn
Later life and legacy
According to writer Reed Massengill, Urban became reclusive during the last years of his life, living on welfare support in California.[1]
Much of Urban's work was lost in police raids.Шаблон:Sfn Urban entrusted what remained to a friend, Dominic X. Mondella.[1] The materials were ultimately acquired by the Doan Foundation, which published a book on Urban's work.Шаблон:Sfn
Citations
References
External links
- Английская Википедия
- Страницы с неработающими файловыми ссылками
- Physique photography
- 20th-century American photographers
- 1917 births
- 1992 deaths
- St. Benedict's Preparatory School alumni
- Страницы, где используется шаблон "Навигационная таблица/Телепорт"
- Страницы с телепортом
- Википедия
- Статья из Википедии
- Статья из Английской Википедии
- Страницы с ошибками в примечаниях
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