1. Robert Henry Mizer was an American photographer and filmmaker, known for pushing boundaries of depicting male homoerotic content with his work in the mid 20th century.
12 Facts About Bob Mizer
1. 2.
Bob Mizer began his photography career apprenticing with former silent film star Frederick Kovert, who operated a physique studio in Hollywood.
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In spite of societal expectations and pressure from law enforcement, Bob Mizer built a veritable empire on his beefcake photographs and films.
4.
Bob Mizer established the influential studio, the Athletic Model Guild in 1945, but by the time he published the first issue of Physique Pictorial he was operating the studio on his own at his home near downtown Los Angeles.
5.
Bob Mizer photographed thousands of men, building a collection that includes nearly two million different images and thousands of films and videotapes.
6.
Bob Mizer continued to pursue his vision, influencing artists like Robert Mapplethorpe and David Hockney.
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Examples of Bob Mizer's work are now held by esteemed educational and cultural institutions the world over, and can be found in various books, galleries, and private art collections.
8.
Bob Mizer was repeatedly targeted by authorities in relation to his trade in photographs and film.
9.
Bob Mizer was investigated again in 1947 after a man told police that Bob Mizer had sold him nude photographs.
10.
Bob Mizer was sentenced to six months at a prison farm in Saugus, California.
11.
Bob Mizer was convicted, and author Jeffrey Escoffier speculates that he was imprisoned for part of 1968 as a result, explaining a lapse in the run of Physique Pictorial that year.
12.
Bob Mizer produced over 3,000 film titles from the early 1950s to the early 1980s.