Regarded as a master painter of the male physique, George Quaintance was an artist famous for his intensely homoerotic depictions of men in mid-twentieth-century physique magazines. Using historical settings to justify the nudity or distance the subjects to modern society, his artworks featured strongly idealized muscular, semi-nude or nude male figures. Wild West settings were a common motif. His artwork helped establish the "macho stud" stereotype, leading him to be called a "pioneer of a gay aesthetic." Raised on a farm in rural Virginia, Quaintance traveled a fascinating path of reinvention: at various points in his life. He was a Vaudeville dancer, the favored portraitist of Washington's smart set, coiffeur designer, window dresser, magazine cover artist, photographer, portraitist, and ultimately, the preeminent male physique' artist of the 1940s and early '50s. Quaintance's work for magazines such as Physique Pictorial, Demi-Gods, and Body Beautiful inspired later homoerotic artists.
