Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography / Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Separated Material
Descriptive Summary
Title: Dave Martin Photographs of male nudes,
Date (inclusive): 1951-1974
Collection number: Mss Photo 217
Creator:
Martin, Dave
Extent:
12.5 linear ft.
21 manuscript boxes, 3 flat boxes
(ca. 2600 photographs)
Repository:
Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.
Abstract: Martin's photos are of young men, indoors and out, including body builders, college athletes, military and law enforcement
men. He refers to his photography genre in a recently published book as male physique photography, tracing the history of
the genre back to the 1920s, 30s and 40s.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least 24 hours in advance of intended use.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
Preferred Citation
Dave Martin Photographs of male nudes, Mss Photo 217. Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford,
Calif.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Dave Martin, 2003.
Biography / Administrative History
Dave Martin became San Francisco's first photographer to specialize in male nude physique studies when he opened his Sacramento
Street studio in San Francisco in 1952.
Martin was born and raised in Pennsylvania. In the 1940s he met Lon Hanagan of New York and was inspired by his photographic
skills. At that point in time, Hanagan was acknowledged to be the best photographer of the male form in the United States.
Determined to create his own portfolio of physique photographs of young men, Martin became a self-taught photographer of reknown.
He controlled all aspects of his photograpy, from posing his models, processing film and doing his own darkroom printing.
His preferred media was black &white film; he started with a 4x5 Super D Graflex, a camera made famous in the 1920s, then
later switched to a 4x5 Crown Graphic with electronic flash. Most sessions were 60 shots made on Super Pan Press film, some
of which utilized filters for dramatic effect. He controlled his photographic process every step of the way. Dave quickly
became known for his darkroom proficiency and the very high quality prints he produced.
Dave Martin photographed all-American young men indoors and out, and was the first to use San Francisco's landmark Golden
Gate Bridge, in the 50s as a backdrop for his nudes. While some of Martin's models were young bodybuilders, many were college
athletes, men in military service and others came from law enforcement.
Of interest to Stanford researchers is the fact that many of his models were student athletes from Stanford University.
Martin's physique photographs were published in men's muscle magazines of the period. They appeared in Strength &Health, Tomorrow's
Man, Vim, Body Beautiful, and others.
His career was at its peak between 1951 and 1974. He currently resides in San Francisco.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains ca. 2,600 original photographs by Martin of young men in both indoor studio settings and outdoor locations,
including body builders, college athletes, military and law enforcement men. He refers to his photography genre in a recently
published book as male physique photography, tracing the history of the genre back to the 1920s, 30s and 40s.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into 8 series, the first of which are original Dave Martin photographs. Series 1: Caucasian Athletes
is comprised of images of caucasian athletes and models. Series 2: Black athletes is comprised of images of African American
athletes and models. Series 3: Mixed Athletes is comprised of images of European- and African-American athletes and models.
Series 4: Back poses are also a mixture of images of European- and African-American athletes and models. Within each of the
boxes containing original photography of nude males by Dave Martin, the photographs are arranged alphabetically by model,
following the original arrangement scheme employed by Dave Martin.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Martin, Dave, photographer.
Male nude in art.
Photography, Erotic--San Francisco (Calif.)
Photography of men.
Photography of the nude.
Separated Material
Several books were removed from the collection and cataloged as part of the Rare Books Division. They can be located by using
Stanford's Online Catalog, Socrates, and searching using the keyword search "Dave Martin Photographs of Male Nudes".