Despite designing a staggering 18 collections a year, designer Jonathan Anderson still found time to celebrate a hidden piece of queer history this Pride month with a special exhibition. 

The gay Irish designer launched Spartacus, “an exhibition celebrating the joys of the male physique”. Now closed, the exhibition displayed rare illustrations from one of the first queer magazines in the United States. Just a day after showcasing his Dior Summer 2027 Men’s collection in Paris, Anderson launched the exhibition on June 25 in his boutique in Soho, London.  

The illustrations were from Physique Pictorial, a revolutionary 1950s American magazine that normalised and celebrated the sensuality of the male figure. The magazine initially posed as a bodybuilding magazine in order to evade federal obscenity charges. Inside, it featured nearly nude photos and sketches of men from a range of artists and photographers. Each page posed as inspiration for other men looking to get fit and a few pages detailed healthy diets and exercise. 

Anderson’s exhibition featured a collection of drawings that were showcased in the magazine, drawn by an artist known as Spartacus. This pseudonym continues to protect the artist’s identity to this day. 40 of their drawings have been made available from Bob Mizer’s personal collection for the exhibition. 

Mizer, the former publisher, editor, and primary photographer of the magazine, created Physique Pictorial as a resource for the closeted gay men of America, and to showcase homoerotic photographers and artists such as Spartacus. 

“I see [Physique Pictorial] as a knowing wink to the gay community of post-war America, whose members were understandably closeted and underground,” Dennis Bell, President of the Bob Mizer Foundation, told AnOther. 

Physique Pictorial was published quarterly under the guise of body building until a landmark Supreme Court decision in 1969 decriminalised the making and owning of obscene material. Mizer then shifted the magazine to proudly be an erotic publication until it stopped producing in 1990. 

This important piece of queer history inspired incredible artists such as David Hockney, Robert Mapplethorpe, and now, the soon-to-be legendary creative director of Dior, Jonathan Anderson.  

The magazine has resumed production through the Bob Mizer Foundation, and is available as a quarterly photographic journal. 

While Anderson’s exhibition is now closed, you can see some of the drawing showcased below:

 

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