This auction is for the VINTAGE 4x5-INCH BLACK AND WHITE DOUBLEWEIGHT SILVER GELATIN PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINT OF HANDSOME COMPETITIVE BODYBUILDERS AND PHYSIQUE MODELS JOHNNY ROTOLANTE (ON TOP) AND JIM DARDANIS (UNCHARACTERISTICALLY ON BOTTOM)  SHOT AND PRINTED IN THE LATE 1950s OR EARLY 1960s BY LEGENDARY PHYSIQUE PHOTOGRAPHER DON WHITMAN OF WESTERN PHOTOGRAPHY GUILD.

This rare print is in EXCELLENT condition. It is STAMPED faintly verso with Whitman's WPG studio backstamp and the notation SERIES 21 NO. 8  and the pre-zip code stamp, so this is a print that was made prior to 1963. The WPG stamp is so faint on this print that I scanned with contrast in my last scan to show this is either a DENVER or DENVER 1 print -- hard to tell -- but clearly pre-zip code. PLEASE NOTE that the text from my book Uncovered and the early WPG ad are shown for reference and authentication, and they are NOT included as part of this auction.

 DON WHITMAN (1916-1998) established the Western Photography Guild in Denver, Colorado, in 1947 and during the following half-century built it into one of the most successful of all the American physique studios. His innate artistry, the majestic landscapes of the nearby Rocky Mountains and the sheer physical beauty of his models combined to help Whitman create some of physique photography’s iconic images. At a time when moviegoers were agog over film idols such as Guy Madison and Montgomery Clift, Whitman’s models were likewise paragons of All-American good looks. Unlike the bulkier Muscle Beach competitors who were Bruce of Los Angeles’ stock-in-trade or the ethnic models who populated many of Lon of New York’s classically inspired images, Whitman’s models evinced the wholesomeness of the American boy-next-door.

Whitman launched Western Photography Guild with an ad placed in the April 1947 issue of Strength & Health, and the response was astounding. In his follow-up ad in May, he thanked his customers for their warm response. “It will spur us on to merit your enthusiasm in succeeding series,” he wrote. Encouraged by the success of his first few years in business, Whitman branched out and helped found the Mr. Colorado Contest and served as its director for more than two decades. As both enterprises grew, an increasing number of Whitman’s models came from within the ranks of contest competitors.

Although Whitman’s work appeared in all the leading bodybuilding and physique magazines of the time, he enjoyed a special collaboration with the editors of the magazines Art & Physique and Olympic Arts, published in Metarie, Louisiana. Although not as widely distributed or well known as, say, Tomorrow’s Man or Adonis, these two publications were impeccably produced. One of the characteristics of Whitman’s prints was their sheer physical beauty, which was shown to greater advantage in these magazines. He was a master in the darkroom, and his gorgeous “super” finished sepia prints are as stunning today as they were 50 or more years ago when they were printed.

While most of Whitman’s competitors’ businesses were crippled at one time or another by police raids and confiscated negatives, it was the catastrophic South Platte River flood during the summer of 1965 that nearly decimated Whitman’s business. “It knocked the entire back wall out of the office,” Whitman’s niece wrote in a letter in 2001. “The adults (I was five at the time) brought everything from the office to my parents’ garage to try to clean it up, and we all had to get tetanus shots.” While numerous negatives and nearly all the studio equipment were ruined, Whitman, his family and even some of his models worked to salvage what could be saved and business continued as usual, despite the loss of numerous irreplaceable images.

Throughout his 50 years in business, two things served as hallmarks of Whitman’s Western Photography Guild: his warm friendships with many of his models, and his exceptional customer service skills. It was not unusual for an order to be delivered to its recipient with a polite letter of thanks signed by Whitman. He genuinely appreciated the patronage of his customers, and he never failed to tell them so.

Today, more than two decades after his death, Whitman’s work continues to be widely appreciated by both connoisseurs of physique photography and a new generation of collectors. An exhibition of vintage Western Photography Guild prints was held at New York’s Wessel + O’Connor Gallery during 2006, bringing new fans to Whitman’s work. Most important, Whitman’s heirs are keeping his legacy alive by offering beautiful contemporary prints from his original negatives and stunning color prints from his original chromes through their website and through print auctions on eBay. With the family's assistance and input, I published a beautiful selection of WPG prints as a chapter of my book Uncovered: Rare Vintage Male Nudes (Rizzoli/Universe, 2009), for those who want to know more about this great photographer and his work.

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