Naked Spartan Youth Sculpture created by Lidbury:

Naked Sparta Youth Sculpture created by Lidbury:

A sculpture which I recently completed:

The Spatan Youth
When male Spartans began military training at age seven, they would enter the Agoge system. The 'Agoge' was designed for military discipline and physical toughness. Male youths lived in communal military quarters and were underfed deliberately, to encourage them in the skill of stealing food. Besides physical and weapons training, male youth studied reading, writing, music and dancing.

Beginning at the age of 12 Spartan boys would be given only one item of clothing per year — a red cloak known as a 'Phoinikis'. At the age of twelve, the Agoge obliged Spartan boys to take an older male mentor, usually an unmarried young man. The older man was expected to function as mentor to his junior partner; however, it is also reasonably certain that they had sexual relations (the exact nature of Spartan pederasty is fiercely debated).

At the stage of paidiskoi, around the age of 18, the Sparta students became reserve members of the Spartan army. Some became part of the Crypteia, a type of 'Secret Police' testing their skills by targeting the helot slave population.

The Sacred Band of Thebes.

The Sacred Band of Thebes was a troop of picked soldiers, consisting of 150 pederastic (age-structured) male couples which formed the elite force of the Theban army in the 4th century BC.

Plutarch recorded that the Sacred Band was made up of male couples (lovers). The Sacred Band originally formed of hand-picked men who were couples, each lover and beloved selected from the ranks of the existing Theban citizen-army. The pairs consisted of the older "heníochoi", or charioteers, and the younger "parabátai", or companions, all housed and trained at the states expense in order to fight as hoplites. The firmly held belief was that male lovers would fight more fiercely and cohesively to defend their male lover beside them in battle, than would strangers who had no ardent bonds.

In about 300 BC, the town of Thebes erected a giant stone lion on a pedestal at the burial site of the Sacred Band. This monument was restored in the 20th Century and still stands today. Although Plutarch claims that all three hundred of the Band's warriors died that day, excavation of the burial site at the Lion Monument in 1890 turned up 254 skeletons, arranged in seven rows.

The film 300 made in 2007 is a fictionalized retelling of the Spartan warrior Battle of Thermopylae.

Yet another example of my male nude sculptures which are banned from display or exhibition as being too homoerotic at Cornwall 'gay?' Pride 2011. If the chairperson of Cornwall Pride 2011 sees 'sex' through his eyes in my sculptures, then like beauty, sexual arousal must also be in the eye of the beholder?

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My Nude Young Men in Photography: Flesh of Leopards

(ABOVE: One of the images from my 'Flesh of Leopards' photographic collection of Nude Young Men)

Well yes I know it's not sculpture, but I do use my own photos as reference for my sculptures.

One of the male models used in the photos lives in our house. He still assists at the drop of a hat to whip his kit off when I'm sculpting so I can get a curve, fold or form right.

I include this blog reference to my male nude photographic work, as I'm having some difficulties with wikimedia accepting that my own photo images are indeed my own images, despite my having sent a required copyright permission email.

Hey Ho, it seems there is a certain hostility & prejudice towards gay artists contributing to so many art and other websites if openly gay.

I have encountered so much homophobic prejudice towards my homocentric art, in particular from the homophobic neo-Nazi of Devon & Cornwall Constabulary (who tried in 2004 unsuccessfully to prosecute me for my lawful paintings), the art philistines at Intercom Trust (who attacked the art work of Henry Scott Tuke), and the anti-gay art Cornwall Gay Pride committee (who banned my sculptures from Cornwall Pride).

It's not just the likes of Stalin’s Russian Communism or Hitler’s Third Reich which censored art ruthlessly. Art censorship is alive & well in Cornwall (UK) due too pious over reaction to male nudity in art

NB: Please note there is NOTHING pornographic going on in the original photographs from which I have created the 'Flesh of Leopards' photographs. Simply ‘male nudes in photography’.

Do take a bimble to wikimedia and checkout some (just some) of my artwork, paintings sculpture & photographic.

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Male Nude Paintings Cornwall police tried 'unsuccessfully' to prosecute for

ABOVE: One of my paintings which Devon & Cornwall police
attempted unsuccessfully to try to prosecute me for?

Yes, I know this blog is 'primarily' about my male nude sculptures. However, I just thought I would put this link in to my former paintings (& sculptures) which can be found here on wikimedia


I have not painted since 2004 when the homophobes of Devon & Cornwall police kicked in the front door of my home & attempted to prosecute me (unsuccessfully) for my male nude paintings which I had been selling at the time legitimately & lawfully on ebay. The very same paintings you can see on this wikimedia link.

Police have had to admit twice on two separate occasions that allegations made against me were in fact false, but so ingrained is homophobia within the Devon & Cornwall constabulary that they decline to prosecute the vile persons who have made the malicious allegations initially or investigate the abuses carried out by named & identified police officers subsequently.

So voracious & intense has been the homophobic prejudice & discrimination I have experienced from Devon & Cornwall Constabulary Police (and still continue to do so to this day) that I attempted suicide.

As a result, I have not painted since 2004 as I suffer severe panic attacks, the symptoms of which are so painful similar to that of a heart attack.

According to two professional medical assessments now, I am so traumatised by the catalogue of Cornwall police misconduct I have experienced since 2004...and still on going, it has severely adversely affected me both physically & emotionally.

Unfortunately, in the United Kingdom it is almost impossible to sue the police (who in recent years have become a law unto themselves. See killing of Ian Tomlinson, Killing of Charles de Menezes, assault on Mark Aspinall, etc.) unless one is extremely wealthy. Justice in the United Kingdom has become the exclusive preserve of those wealthy enough to buy it.

As a gay man & an artist of the male nude I believe it is imperative that LGBT people do not get lulled into the blatant lie that the UK police are no longer homophobic. THEY ARE! My own experience & that of other LGBT persons known too me tells me police in the United Kingdom (and in particular in Cornwall) are & every bit as deeply prejudicial & homophobic as an organisation as they have always been.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Please feel free to link this blog and take a peek at my images of my artwork on wikimedia.

Lidbury Pagan and Male Nude Sculptures on Wikimedia

 'Gay Male Lovers' sculpture created by Malcolm Lidbury

Yesterday I spent several hours loading a number of photo images of my own sculptures up onto wikimedia(I don't have the fastest of broadband connections living in rural backward Cornwall, in fact I'm sure that some of my downloads are actually transported by carrier pigeon sometimes).

I love wikimedia & wikipedia. I personally find it a fantastic resource for my own research. Which is why I wanted to contribute some images of my own sculptures to this important & international resource.

However, I confess that I really struggle to understand just how wikipedia & wikimedia work for contributors. Today I returned to find half my images of my sculptures re-distributed under different categories in which I had not placed them. Its all a mystery too me. The more I use the internet...the more confused & lost I become about how the systems work.

But 'some' photo images of my own sculptural creations did make it through can now be found on wikimedia with Creative Commons license 3.0
. Which basically means others can use my photo images of my sculpture creations on the license terms & condition that they credit the image back too the creator (me).

If anyone 'is' Wikimedia savvy regarding category placements of images, please be kind and relist my Lidbury sculptures in the appropriate categories, in particular 'LGBT artists' & 'Sculptures by sculptor'

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Play 'Spot the Male Nude Sculpture'...in film & television.

A small selection of Bronze finish OUTCAST sculptures
created by artist Malcolm Lidbury

Play 'Spot the Male Nude Sculpture'...in film & television.


Have you ever noticed in films & television programmes just how often male nude sculptures turn up tastefully displayed in the background of interior design decor of the rich & wealthy households. We have, in fact we play 'spot the nude sculpture' when watching films at home. (We also play 'spot the armillary', fascinating just how often one of those turns up)

It seems no self respecting private medical practitioner, successful corporate chief executive, business tycoon or arch villain can have a suitably presented office interior, without the obligatory bronze nude sculpture displayed somewhere.

It seems to me that the very act of displaying a nude art work in the home or workplace is in effect stating...'I can do this because of my position of power'

The successful & self assured have the confidence to do just that, to display & collect nude art & sculpture, for home & in the work place and self confidence is probably 'why' they are successful & at the top of their game to start with.

One also only has to think of the great stately homes of the English aristocracy & upper gentry to realise that being able to confidently display nude art speaks volumes about social standing & status. Full on displays of classical nudity through collections of paintings & sculpture are seemingly ‘a badge statement’ of social position & standing.

Try playing 'Spot the nude sculpture' in films yourself, its amazing how often they appear!

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BRONZE BOY SLEEPING: ANDY 1996: Missed, not forgotten

ABOVE: An early sculpture by Lidbury created in 1996

Although I have titled the above bronze finish sculpture 'ANDY 1996', it is not of Andy.

Andy Roger Smith was my partner in 1996 & he had been diagnosed as having HIV/AIDS. Diagnosed WITH HIV/AIDS in August 1994, he went blind as a result of his HIV/AIDS quite quickly.

As his career and partner we spent many quite evenings together as his condition deteriated. During this time I created this sculpture whilst just sitting with him listening to the telly in the evenings. It is still one of my personal favourite sculptures.

I have included the youtube video link below about Andy & his HIV/AIDS struggle against prejudice & discrimination of the authorities in Cornwall. Andy died aged 29 yrs old Christmas 1996. Gay prejudice Still a problem even today in Devon & Cornwall police & Cornwall Council.

The Discretonary HIV/AIDS Trust fund 'SPROCKET TRUST' started by Andy continues to raise awareness & challenge institutional gay prejudice & discrimination carried out by Cornwall police & other Cornish authorities.

The SPROCKET TRUST has supported a youtube channel which has received more than TWO & A HALF MILLION views of videos raising awareness of continued institutional prejudice & discrimination by Cornwall's authorities.

For information & support for those infected or affected by HIV/AIDS issues in Cornwall please visit Kernow Positive Support


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TORSO: Male Nude Ephebe Youth Sculpture by Lidbury

(ABOVE: Traditional Male Nude Torso Sculpture created by Malcolm Lidbury)

The TORSO: The youthful adolescent ephebe male torso has been a traditional starting point for the sculptor to practise figurative sculptural art. My own creation of a ephebe male youth torso (above image) is in keeping with that starting point of traditional classical sculptural fine art.

The torso is the part of the human body where the limbs are attached. Often in sculpture with the head and limbs omitted or removed; Some people also call it the trunk. It is made of chest, back, abdomen and in male sculptural representation may frequently include the genitals.

Classical Roman & Greek examples of torso statues & sculpture frequently found in great Museums and galleries.
Example: Torso of a youth: Metropolitan Museum of Art USA.

Another example: Torso Diadumenos in the Louvre Museum, Paris

A more contemporary Torso sculpture example Indiana University Purdue Indianapolis USA

Emasculation by hammer & chisel
There have been frequent lapses in history where by public art/sculpture has been irresponsibly defaced & vandalised by the removal of the genitals from bronze, marble & stone male statuary.

In 1530, the eruption of Counter Reformation fanaticism following the Renaissance, the edict of the Council of Trent forbade the depiction of genitals, buttocks and breasts in church art.

In 1557, the fig leaves were instituted by the bull of Pope Paul IV. Many of the fig leaves that we see were put in place on the personal initiative of Pope Innocent X (1644-1655) who, for reasons of his own, preferred metal leaves to the plaster ones. This Pope, to his credit, spared most of the art in the Vatican.

The Catholic Pope Pius IX in 1857 is reputed to have decided that the accurate representation of the flaccid male penis on the few remain unvandalised statues might by too homoerotic and incite lust inside the Vatican. So Pope Pius IX allegedly had remaining offending attachments hacked off male statue inside the Vatican. An act of criminal damage of some great classical works of art.

The fig leaves were promptly added by his successor to stop the iconoclasm.

All in all, the destructive campaign raged for 450 years and resulted in the destruction of much Catholic visual art.

However, I always find amusing the idea there may be a room somewhere in the vast Vatican City complex simply piled high with the remnant marble penis castrations left over from the various papal ravages.

Unfortunately, even today there are still those who would censor & suppress, even destroy art, history & culture, like the destruction of the Baniyan Buddas in 2001.

Including in Cornwall (UK) where I live, where the Cornish police prefer ignorance and intimidation to cultural enlightenment and have actively targeted with a view to prosecute artists for artistic depiction of the Male Nude. Despite this being contary to the Human Rights Act article 10. The right to freedom of expression, which includes art.

A Male nude watercolour painting which in 2004 homophobic Devon & Cornwall police
 attempted, but failed to prosecute the artist for creating

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