Rodeo

Rodeo collects a little-known body of work by Bruce of Los Angeles, the photographer better known for the stylized male nudes that made him a founding figure of mid-century beefcake photography.

Edited by critic Vince Aletti, the book gathers Bellas's photographs of cowboys taken casually between events at Western rodeos through the 1950s, 60s, and 70s: real ranch hands and competitors, dressed and at ease, rather than posed studio subjects. Published by Acne Studios in a numbered edition of 500, the 190-page hardcover was printed on a Japanese Komori press and includes several hand-mounted replica prints, housed in a printed slipcase.

Bruce Bellas worked as a chemistry teacher in Nebraska before relocating to Los Angeles in the late 1940s to photograph bodybuilders and athletes, eventually publishing his own physique magazine, The Male Figure. His work is understood as a direct precursor to later photographers of the male body, including Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, and Bruce Weber.