(Back and Toes by Brigitte Carnochan and Steve Reeves by Bruce of Los Angeles are two of the photographs featured at the exhibit.)

"We’ve always wanted to do a collaboration with CAMP Rehoboth, and this is our chance," says Sally Packard of the Packard Reath Gallery in Lewes about an upcoming exhibition.

CAMP and the gallery are jointly presenting an exhibition of vintage photographs from the 40s and 50s entitled "Physique." The exhibit, presented by the gallery at the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center will open Sunday, June 13 and run through the end of July. There will be an opening reception from 4 to 7 pm on the 13th.

"At the moment, Dinah (Packard’s partner, Dinah Reath) is in New York picking up the show," Packard told Letters on May 24. "I’m sure we will have at least 25 pieces available to be installed for the exhibit."

The show recalls the photographic era of "muscle men" in the early 1950s. At that time, photographic imagery of men became overtly focused on the natural beauty of the male body.

This show will feature vintage photographic work by pioneering body-building photographers from the mid 20th century, including such famous artists as Bruce of Los Angeles (Bruce Bellas, 1909-1974) and Bob Mizer (1922-1992).

Also featured will be photographs of women by some of the artists represented by Packard Reath Gallery such as Connie Imboden and Cindy Warwick. "Of course, they will not be of the same genre, since no one was taking similar photographs of women back then," Packard explains. However, the female images in the show will be equally interesting and eye-catching.

"Our aim is to raise money for the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center and have fun with the exhibit," says Packard.

The show has been made possible through the joint efforts of the gallery and the prestigious New York gallery Wessel + O’Connor located in the Chelsea section of New York.

According to Packard, John Wessell and William O’Connor have an enormous collection of vintage photographs and have generously donated the invitation image for the show to be raffled for the benefit of CAMP Rehoboth. A percentage of the sales from the exhibit will also benefit the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center.

The genre of photographs that will be exhibited hails from the days when young men arrived in LA hoping to become Hollywood stars, and often wound up posing for "beefcake" or "muscle" photos in photographer Bob Mizer’s garage. The photos became part of Mizer’s Athletic Model Guild studio, and later his magazine Physique Pictorial.

By the time of Mizer’s death in 1992, he had become the most prolific photographer in the realm of male-physique photographic art, producing just under one million black and white and color images of approximately 15,000 models.

Photographer Bruce Bellas, whose work will also be featured, had a career that spanned from the 1940s to the 1970s. At one time he had a magazine, Male Figure, and photographed some of the most famous actors and models of the day.

Packard and Reath have owned the gallery in Lewes for the past five years. "I love owning a space where we can get to know artists and bring beautiful work to our small towns," Packard says. "And the chance to work with CAMP Rehoboth on this project is just a natural."

For more information call CAMP Rehoboth at 302-227-5620.