About George.
QUAINTANCE REMEMBERED AFTER 100 YEARS
THE SHORT LIFE OF AN AMERICAN ART PIONEER
From the 1920s to the 1950s the phenomenon that was George Quaintance blazed a trail across the American cultural landscape.
In his 55 years, Quaintance has as many careers as a cat has lives. He painted portraits of Washington Diplomats, society wives and his friends. He belonged to a successful and widely traveled Vaudeville troup, he was one of the most highly sought-after women’s hair stylists of the 1930s with such illustrious clients as Marlene Dietrich, Jeanette MacDonald, and Helen Hayes, he was a sculptor, and he was among the vanguard artists of the bodybuilding movement of the late 40s and 50s, illustrating covers and writing articles for: Physique Pictorial, Your Physique, Body Beautiful, and numerous others.
Using a pseudonym, Quaintance also drew pin up girls for the covers of pulp and movie star magazines of the 20s and 30s most often Movie Humor, Tempting Tales, and Movie Merry-Go-round. In 1937 he was the highest paid illustrator for Gay French Magazine, earning more that Fifty-Thousand dollars a year. As such he was a forerunner to such later masters of the female pin-up, as Vargas and Petty.
Quaintance was also a professionally trained dancer who performed, onstage, everything from classic ballet to tap and the tango. He wrote and produced plays and talent shows in his native Page County, Virginia, and he capped his career with an astonishing collection of about 55 male physique paintings (as he liked to call them) in which he distilled the essence of masculine beauty into images of nude or partially clad young men of may races brimming with bonhomie and languid eroticism.
Quaintance was the first artist to eroticized Levis long before they became an icon of American culture or the emblem of men’s sexuality. Quaintance was also a canny publicist for his own work, carefully cultivating the images the images he wished to project. Cursed with thin limp hair, he wore lavish wigs. He lied about his age successfully passing himself off as at least 10 years younger than his real age.
George Quaintance was a bridge between two generations of gay sensibility, Quaintance male physique paintings are the apotheosis of this 20th Century sea-change, in which casual nudity among men becomes so expressive and so connotative-with never a cock to be seen – as to assume a potency previously associated only with pornography.
Before Quaintance, erotic masculine images were hardly to be found except in the arts of Ancient Greece and Rome. In this narrow window of time and opportunity, Quaintance found a niche that earned him fame, wealth and immortality.
His paintings today are so scarce and highly desired, they pass from collector to eager collector without ever being offered on public art markets. His sculptures are even harder to find as they only enjoyed limited exposure during the final years of his short life.
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About Us.
This website grew out of a blossoming appreciation for male physique art. When our uncle closed down his antiques business of over 25 years, there were hundreds of boxes to be sorted and disposed of. It wasn’t until then that we discovered his “unspoken” past as a male physique photographer. Among those boxes were an incredible collection of personal treasures from his time in Arizona in the early 1950’s.
During the oppressive 1940’s and 50’s, gay erotica was forced underground. Gay men and women shared “art” photos that were passed from friend to friend in fear of the wrath of the U.S. Postal Inspectors who could raid your home at any time if they found you had received “pornographic material” through the U.S. Mail.
These oppressive times brought aficiandos of gay art and photography together, including George Quaintance and my uncle Richard. Friends for the entire time Quaintance and his two male companions lived in the quiet suburbs of Phoenix, my uncle was the recipient of a great deal of personal memorabilia. Both assisted the other in their craft with settings, models and technical notes. The photograph sitting which was the basis for the Quaintance painting “Siesta” was actually taken at Richard’s home, near his unique southwest style fireplace. Quaintance painted most of his works from photographs allowing him to “exactly recreate” his paintings and sell the same work to multiple buyers.
Among the boxes that were gifts from the Quaintance Estate were a nearly complete set of color images of Quaintance’s male beefcake works, never before seen as a complete set. With the help of professional restorers, we are now able to make available to the community reproductions of these works of fine art. We are also making available the rare photography and other unique items as both originals and reproductions.
Our sincerest thanks goes to ArtistIsland.com for their assistance in working to preserve this rare collection of works for future generations. Without their skill and care in this restoration project, we could not have even contemplated this undertaking. Finally, our thanks also to Uncle “Dickie” for his foresight in preserving the history of our community, we are eternally grateful for this incredible gift.
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