An exhibition opening this autumn in Paris’s Palais-Royal will showcase a series of vintage photographs capturing American cowboys from the mid-20th century. Displayed at the Acne Paper gallery, the collection features images of men backstage at rodeos from the 1940s through the 1970s, portraying them in casual poses clad in traditional cowboy attire — shirts, jeans, boots, and hats.

The photographs originate from Bruce Bellas (1909–1974), also known by his professional name, Bruce of Los Angeles, a pioneering figure in physique photography. Bellas, who began his career as a chemistry teacher in Nebraska, developed a dedicated following for his work documenting male beauty, initially through fitness-oriented mail-order magazines. From 1956, he published his own magazine, Male Figure, which combined artistic photography with imagery that appealed strongly to a gay audience at a time when such content was often clandestine.

While typical Bellas images are noted for their playful and erotic style, the cowboy series stands apart for its softer and more romantic tone. The men are fully clothed, and the photographs convey a sense of modesty mixed with sensuality without overt sexual provocation. Vince Aletti, curator and photography critic who oversees the collection, describes the images as devoid of pretense or obvious display, offering instead a more intimate and genuine glimpse of their subjects.

Aletti, author of two photobooks on male eroticism, discovered the cowboy images in a private vintage collection near his residence in New York’s East Village. Research revealed that Bellas took the photographs mostly for personal enjoyment while attending rodeos in locations such as Wyoming, Colorado, and Canada. Though the cowboy images were sometimes included in issues of Male Figure, Aletti emphasizes their private and personal nature within Bellas’s broader body of work.

The cowboy has long been an iconic figure in North American culture, descending from the vaqueros of Spanish colonial times. Although real cowboys continue to work on ranches today, the figure is largely celebrated as a cultural symbol and fashion archetype. The clothing worn by Bellas’s subjects—shirts, jeans, cowboy boots—has transitioned into mainstream American wardrobe staples, inviting a subtle form of homage or “cosplay” of the cowboy image in everyday life.

This exhibition offers a unique window into the blending of Americana with mid-century gay aesthetics, preserving an era when such representations were rarely visible in mainstream media. It also highlights Bruce Bellas's role as a significant artist whose work bridged private desires and public artistry during a complex period in cultural history.