Nude Female in Gauze, Taormina (vintage albumen photo)

This image of a female nude is a rarity in von Gloeden’s career. This albumen print is in very fine condition with light warm tones, dating from the 1890s. Image was obtained from an auction house from a deconstructed album. There are no markings on the image back. size is approx. 7×9″ trimmed to the edges.

Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden (September 16, 1856–February 16, 1931) was a German photographer who worked mainly in Italy. He is mostly known for his pastoral nude studies of Sicilian boys, which usually featured props such as wreaths or amphoras suggesting a setting in the Greece or Italy of antiquity. From a modern standpoint, his work is commendable due to his controlled use of lighting as well as the often elegant poses of his models. Innovative use of photographic filters and special body makeup contribute to the artistic perfection of his works.

Famous in his own day, his work was subsequently eclipsed for close to a century, only to re-emerge in recent times as “the most important gay visual artist of the pre–World War I era” according to Thomas Waugh.

In total the Baron took over 3,000 images, which after his death were left to one of his models, Pancrazio Buciunì, also known as Il Moro for his North African looks. Il Moro had been Von Gloeden’s lover since the age of fourteen, when he had first joined the household of the Baron. In 1936, over 2,500 of the pictures were destroyed by Mussolini’s police under the allegation that they constituted pornography. Most of the surviving images therefore come from private collections.

$ 900.00

Out of stock