Towards a definitive statement on the coming trends in men's wear and accessories (c) Adonis in Y-fronts

Richard Hamilton was a pioneer of the European Pop Art movement—which drew extensively on mass media and advertising sources—and a central figure in British art. This potent, jewel-like work is the third painting in a series in which the title and concept of each composition came from a headline for an annual male fashion feature published in Playboy. According to Hamilton, the theme for this piece was the "timeless aspect of male beauty." His version of the classical male torso was appropriated from an advertisement for a chest-flexing tool found in a Mr. Universo magazine of 1960. The subtitle references the popular song "Venus in Blue Jeans" from 1962, the same year this work was created.