Urban Culture Auctions to host Sept. 26 sale of works by "Bruce of Los Angeles"

On September 26, Urban Culture Auctions (UCA), a division of Palm Beach Modern Auctions, will sell a significant archive of 1950s/’60s “beefcake” photos taken by Bruce Bellas, known professionally as Bruce of Los Angeles. More than 200 lots of vintage prints, negatives, slides, real-photo greeting cards, and posing props will be auctioned. Most of the photos, which played an important supporting role in the foundation of America’s gay movement, were taken in Bellas’ studio, while a smaller number reflect Southern California’s influential fitness movement, which celebrated the male physique. “Around the same time Playboy magazine was launching its controversial first issue with a nude Marilyn Monroe centerfold, Bruce Bellas was creating his own provocative art – photographs of the male anatomy,” said UCA auctioneer and co-owner Rico Baca. “In addition to being an accomplis