Description:
profile portrait of a bare-chest youth wearing garland in hair and holding a branch with flowers
Label Text:
Baron von Gloeden’s work has at times stirred up controversy. Originally from northern Germany, where he studied art and art history, he “fled” to Italy in 1878 to cure his tuberculosis in the warmer climate of Sicily. He settled in the small coastal town of Taormina, where he used his money and charm to create a “Greek paradise” of his own. Having gained the trust of the local population, he befriended the young village boys. As his family fortune ran out and he had to find another means of subsistence, he enlisted the boys to pose for his camera.
Young half-costumed or nude boys in bucolic “Greek” settings became his trademark. His work became extremely popular with the European elite. For some it tapped into Victorian notions associated with a longing for the ancient past, an undiscovered Eden, or the idealized innocence of youth. Others, less overtly, coveted the pictures simply for their homoerotic qualities. HKDV
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1982.38.9 |
