American Adonis: Tony Sansone, the First Male Physique Icon. With: Vintage Silver Gelatin Photographic Print
New York: Universe Publishing, 2004. 1st Edition. Quarto, publisher's photo-illustrated paper-coveredboards, gold endpapers, original photo-illustrated dust jacket; vintage silver gelatin photographic print laid in (measures 9" x 7 1/2").
First edition of art historian John Massey’s photo-bio of the pioneering Italian-American bodybuilder, with an original silver gelatin photographic print of Sansone by Edwin Townsend (circa 1930s). Trained as a modern dancer, Anthony "Tony" Sansone began modeling after winning a physique contest sponsored by fitness legend Charles Atlas. Dubbed the "Apollo of the Modern Age" and "the Most Beautiful Man in America" by Atlas, Sansone is considered the first male physique icon, a muse to prominent 20th-century painters, sculptors, and photographers. Massey’s book traces the evolution of modern bodybuilding while highlighting Sansone’s early life as a dancer, his nude and semi-nude modeling in the 1920s and 30s, and his subsequent career as a gym owner in New York. After seeing Sansone perform in David Belasco's Broadway production of "Mima," photographer Edwin Townsend approached the model to do a studio session. He went on to become Sansone’s principal photographer, with their collaboration yielding one of the most influential bodies of work in the field of male physique photography during the interwar period. Illustrated in black-and-white and sepia; with notes. First printing with complete number row to copyright page. Fine in unclipped dust jacket. Photo with minor rubbing to recto, light soiling and small pencil notation to verso, and minor edgewear. Item #12975
$1,000.00