ARTWORK:
George Quaintance, United States 1902 – 1955
The Bandit, 1953 painting, medium and size unlisted.
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George Quaintance was an American artist, famous for his “idealized, strongly homoerotic” depictions of men in mid-20th-century physique magazines. Using historical settings to justify the nudity or distance the subjects from modern society, his art featured idealized muscular, semi-nude or nude male figures; Wild West settings were a common motif. His artwork helped establish the stereotype of the “macho stud” who was also homosexual, leading him to be called a “pioneer of a gay aesthetic”. He was an influence on many later homoerotic artists, such as Tom of Finland.
