An icon of gay art and one of the most famous names in physique photography, Bruce Bellas is remembered today as a pioneer of beefcake. Beginning in the 1940s and continuing until his death in 1974, Bellas photographed some of the most important figures in the world of physical culture; bodybuilders Steve Reeves, Bob McCune, and George Eiferman, and models Joe Dallesandro, Mark Nixon, and Brian Idol are just a few of the countless strapping males captured by Bellas’ lens. The man who came to be known as Bruce of Los Angeles crafted a refined, masterful aesthetic of erotica, whose influence would later surface in the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, Bruce Weber, and many others.

See more of Bruce Bellas’s work in Bruce of Los Angeles: Outside | Inside ⟶