individual sports

It is a world of good-looking model boys, that are innocent yet sensual, and they have been immortalized by Mark Twain, and celebrated by the famous photographers such as Bruce Weber and Greg Gorman. Now we have Luke Smalley who takes it a step further. He has spent 10 years recreating these athletic images of an innocent and bygone era that was once called All American, way before the nation lost its innocence. This is an outstanding collection of teenage athletes, residents of Pennsylvania towns, who Smalley has posed throwing footballs, wrestling, leaping over hurdles and performing gymnastics. That Twin Palms published this book for Smalley is an added bonus, for it is beautifully designed and bound. The black and white photos are superbly reproduced here.

Smalley has accomplished what he set out to do, capturing the innocence of youth, a vision of the past, and the masculine youthful beauty of young men at the peak of their athletic ability. This is an outstanding book that should be on every collectors list!

Joe Hanssen

The moments from Luke Smalley's insightful and compelling photo essay could easily have been captured at the turn of the century. If it weren't for the book's brief introduction - we would all be easily fooled. Mr. Smalley (who I hope we hear from again very soon) manages to take us back to another time - one not so complicated compared to the complexities of today's modern day lifestyle, where we can easily escape ourselves in the memory of our youth. He also manages to capture an innocence in these young athletes that reminds you of Bruce Weber's early work - you just say to yourself: "Where did he find them - And how did he get them to pose like that!!" This really is a terrific book and I'd recommend it to friends, as well as strangers.

Since receiving Luke Smalley's Gymnasium I have returned to it a number of times. Each time I have been rewarded with a sense of discovering something new. The beauty of the images is not because the subjects are necessarily conventionally handsome or sexual (in fact it is clear throughout that the book is not about any kind of sexual prurience). The beauty comes both from Luke Smalley's technique and from the honest and direct portrayal of the young men in the pictures. It also comes from the bittersweet emotions from those (historic and transient) moments in the lives of boys. The turn-of-the-century nostalgia in the outfits and equipment mirrors the wistfulness of the irreversible developmental surges taking place in these boys. The beauty also comes from the humor that makes change and loss bearable. Luke Smalley deserves a great deal of credit in making us this gift.