January 5, 2021 | The Biz

New life for Bob Mizer's "Physique Pictorial"

In 1951, an American magazine celebrating the male form was launched; Physique Pictorial would continue being published, battling anti-gay and anti-obscenity forces, until 1990.

The magazine was a work of passion by photographer Bob Mizer, and offered gay men some much needed erotic content in an age or extreme sexual oppression. Mizer would pay dearly for his work, serving a nine-month prison sentence in 1947 at a work camp in Saugus, California as male near-nudity in art was illegal.

Mizer died in 1992, but his work continues to be celebrated through the Bob Mizer Foundation. The organization recently launched a Kickstarter campaign, hoping to raise money to help fund the original magazine's relaunch, which started in 2017.

As the campaign page explains: "Four years ago, we relaunched Mizer’s flagship publication, Physique Pictorial, after a 27-year hiatus. The relaunched version is clean and modern; it’s bigger, meatier, more colorful, and an homage to Mizer’s classic works interspersed with the best in images from emerging artists. The response from you, our supporters and readers, has been tremendous.

"A donation to help fund the continued success of Physique Pictorial will insure that Bob Mizer’s message continues to be delivered and heard, in the medium that gave him the most popularity and acclaim, and in the way he always meant it to be."

The foundation is hoping to raise $24,000 to fund a full year of publication (4 issues in total).

If you are not familiar with the early work of Bob Mizer, here are some samples:

Mizer also created a series of films...

Full Film | Homework [H031] from Bob Mizer Foundation on Vimeo.

You can support the fundraising efforts here.