Quaintance

I wasn't familiar with George Quaintance and only stumbled upon him while researching early American gay literature. After reading part of his biography I was intrigued with the dichotomy between his upbringing and his flamboyant tendencies. It is almost as though the conventional gender roles of the time, perhaps exaggerated through the lens of a country boy in Virginia, are translated in his depiction of strong, virile men-- many with softer, almost submissive figures uniformly focused on the central male "hero". The book is much larger in size than I expected but I am grateful since it shows more of the detail in Quaintance's work. I am tickled that these homoerotic paintings are exceedingly sensual while being completely devoid of any full frontal nudity. The more you read about his life and work, the more interesting a character he becomes. In one part of the story we see Quaintance offering hairstyle imaginings for women where the model would pose for Quaintance and he would draw them but with an innovative hairstyle of his own conception. This is literally the earliest version of hairstyle preview software now used in high end salons. I think Quaintance is an underrated and under appreciated gay history icon.

.....most gay men (over 40) with a fair amount of education in history, literature, or the arts know who Quaintance was or at least heard of him. If you didn't know who he was or even if you did, you have to have this book. Quaintance’s work….especially way back then when one could get arrested for anything remotely illustrating “gay” , was an incredible work of art that every gay man should see…..and straight confident men too with a taste for out of the norm artwork.

Enjoyed this beautiful collection of the homoerotic artwork of George Quaintenance whose output was mostly in the decade 1947-57. His erotic drawings of the male physique rank among the greatest of his era -- comparable with Tom of Finland, Etienne. The compositions, many set in the Southwest, are also well-constructed. The quality of paper in this book is excellent. It has small versions of each Quaintenance artwork and full color plates of some of the best known. High quality work at a relatively inexpensive cost. Highly recommended.

Giant book with high quality pictures. Very striking to leave opened on a coffee table (assuming your house guests aren't prude). I own dozens of art books and this is easily one of the best quality.

This is a large book(16" tall) printed on heavy stock paper with large prints and fold outs. If your into erotica of all era's of art this is another for your collection. Its simply a fun book to have and it is a true representation of erotica art of that era especially in the advertising world. I'm glad I made it a part of my collection.

For no apparent reason, I put off purchasing this incredible book for years -- and for years I've missed savoring the unparallelled artistry of the remarkable Quaintance. Don't wait a minute longer and begin enjoying this book as soon as possible. No one has taken his place in this unique genre of art -- and quite possibly no one ever will again.

This is an amazing book, many of the photos show close up images of the paintings where you can see the brush strokes and canvas texture. The photos and illustrations are a wonderful and complete representation of such an art pioneer - a true tribute!

beautiful art work from the past - very talented artist

It is a book with a great artistic content, beautiful works, old painting that is still wonderful, worth the investment, a great book, I recommend it...It is a beautiful book of large size, good quality paper ...

George Quaintance (1902-1957)lived in a time of extreme repression & secrecy, regarding homosexuality,and this is reflected in his artwork. He risked prosecution if he showed more than a hint of pubic hair in his paintings,and so today,his artwork seems so innocent and idyllic. An unmistakeable bulge in the blue jeans of the cowboy in the painting "Red Dust" (1955)is about as revealing as he was allowed to get.Today, the paintings of Quaintance are highly sought-after, and are extremely rare. Quaintance first came to public attention as the cover illustrator of the long-running bodybuilding magazine Physique Pictorial. He was among the first of the physique artists, and went on to influence many, including Tom of Finland.This book is the most thorough of any study ever produced on the life and art of Quaintance. Many of his paintings have only ever been seen in black & white, or small colour illustrations, until now. The standard of reproduction here is incredible.It felt as if I was seeing the paintings for the first time,as the clarity & colour reproduction was so striking. The book opens with an essay by Reed Massengill, on the life of Quaintance. So little was known about Quaintance even in his lifetime, & now over 50 years after his death, it is unlikely that any detailed biography will ever be written. The essay is accompanied by numerous small illustrations, studies in pencil,& early designs for Christmas cards, and even a label design for skin cream, from the 1930s. Pages 17 - 60 are printed on heavy textured off-white paper. The remainder of the book uses heavy smooth paper, which works well for clear reproductions. A section of selected works shows detailed reproductions, some larger that life-size. The detail here is outstanding. eg: A close-up from "Spartan Soldiers Bathing" shows underarm and chest hair, a detail I had not ever noticed before. Some of the reproductions are so clear that it is easy to see cracks in the oil paint, or the weave of the canvas. The book closes with the complete works. Here are reproductions of all known 55 canvases in chronological order, with some background information on each. Interesting information that I did not know, was that some of the models upon which Quaintance based his works, included well-known musclemen Steve Reeves,Glen Bishop, & Dick Dubois. The book features four fold-outs of large canvases,a rich plum & gold colour scheme, & a gold ribbon bookmark.The desert sunsets,the turquoise seascapes, & the tanned, muscled bodies of his subjects have never looked more wonderful than in this book. The joyful freedom that Quaintance longed for in his own life exists here. In "Siesta" (1952), the relaxed atmosphere is seductive. It has taken a long time for a top-quality tribute to Quaintance to be published, & this is it.

Perfect gay images. Makes me want to stay looking fit.