The History of Bruce
The Extraordinary Life & Times of Bruce of L.A., 1948-1974
From the Collection of John Sonsini


Thursday, January 26 – Saturday, March 17, 2012
The Stephen Cohen Gallery is pleased to announce the first comprehensive West Coast exhibition of famed physique photographer Bruce of Los Angeles, with works from the Collection of Los Angeles artist, John Sonsini. The exhibition will present photographs never before exhibited along with ephemera from the 25-year long career of Bruce of Los Angeles (1909 - 1974).

Bruce Harry Bellas was born in Alliance, Nebraska in 1909, where he received degrees in chemistry before moving to Los Angeles in the mid 1940s. Already familiar with Los Angeles physique photographer Bob Mizer and his Athletic Model Guild Studio, Bruce began to teach himself the basics of photography. It wasn't long before he was shooting the bodybuilders and cheesecake models at Venice Beach.

In 1948 Bruce applied for his first business license and the studio of Bruce of Los Angeles was born. By the mid 50's and throughout the 60's, the Golden Age of Physique Photography was synonymous with Southern California, and Bruce rode the wave of the movement with great success. In 1956 he expanded his studio to publish his own magazine The Male Figure, wherein he promoted his own photography and that of his fellow physique photographers. It was during these years that Bruce mastered his stylized technique and aesthetic through which he presented the finest young physiques with kitsch humor, Hollywood glamour, and classical elegance. After 1968, with a newfound liberation in the acceptance and legality of male nudity, the era of physique photography began coming to a close. For Bruce, as well, the early 1970s brought poor health and old age. Perhaps out of exhaustion or waning interest, Bruce photographed sporadically into the early 70's. While traveling in Alberta, Canada in 1974 Bruce succumbed to heart problems and died.

Intensely directorial in approach, Bruce's photographs pushed beyond mere style towards an art that created a union of the sensual exhibitionist and the psychological voyeur. Unquestionably the forebear to the sexy aesthetic of Bruce Weber and the razor sharp elegance of Robert Mapplethorpe, Bruce of Los Angeles is remembered as a prolific pioneer in the photographic history of the male figure.