CIRCA 1890 VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT BY WILHELM VON GLOEDEN

VON GLOEDEN, Wilhelm. Head-and-shoulders portrait of a Sicilian youth. [Taormina, Sicily], circa 1890. Original albumen photograph, measuring 4-1/2 by 6-1/2 inches, mat size 8 by 11 inches. $1500.

Vintage head-and-shoulders portrait in profile of a Sicilian youth in headdress.

“Over 80 percent of Von Gloeden’s photographs were circulated through traditional postcards, magazines and advertisements. In Germany, his work could be found in ‘health and physique’ magazines. Britain used hundreds of his draped studies as advertising for ‘romantic Mediterranean vacations’ in travel magazines” (W.B. Nally), or they “masqueraded as artists’ models” (Frizot, 271). “Von Gloeden was one of the earliest gay photographers of the male nude. His best known images— those enormously popular among the Victorians— depict nude boys in garlands or scant robes acting out Homeric themes; but many of his other images, which once totaled over 3,000, are [simply] elegant studies of the male body” (Jason Goldman). It has been estimated that at least two-thirds of Von Gloeden’s negatives were destroyed by Mussolini, who considered them objectionable. This head-and-shoulders portrait in profile is posed in the classical manner, with eyes looking upward. See McDarrah, 515.

Small surface abrasion to left margin (not affecting subject), minor creasing to corners. Near-fine condition. Scarce.