Robert Henry Mizer (1922 - 1992), known as Bob Mizer, was a trailblazing photographer, filmmaker, and publisher. At a time when homosexuality was criminalized in the United States, Mizer’s photographs were subversive and inherently political. Mizer always presented an unashamed and gregarious approach to male nudity and intimate physical contact between men. For his perspective on eroticized representation alone, Mizer is often ranked with Alfred Kinsey at the forefront of the sexual revolution. More importantly to a gay community still in its infancy, the photographs were an early and courageously visible representation of the gay liberation movement, which urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action and to counter societal shame with gay pride.
Mizer's work has been exhibited widely in the US and internationally, including the landmark exhibition Bob Mizer & Tom of Finland at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2014. In 2009, Taschen published Bob's World: The Life and Boys of AMG's Bob Mizer, a monograph accompanied by an oral history with contributing artists David Hockney, Jack Pierson and John Sonsini. This was followed in 2016 by the extensive two-volume edition of Bob Mizer. AMG: 1000 Model. Mizer's photos are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The artist's archive is held with the The Bob Mizer Foundation, which is dedicated to the promotion and preservation of progressive and controversial photography.