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Product Description
As soon as the invention of photography made it possible to be photographed with one's loved one, early daguerreotypes - small, unique images housed in their cases - were made as tokens of enduring affection or intimacy. Male couples were no exception. Under strict Victorian moral conventions photographs of the male nude were reserved strictly for academic study by artists. It was not until the early twentieth century that the first openly homosexual photographers were able to explore the overtly erotic, and this they did by wrapping their subjects in historical reference by evoking images of ancient Greece or Pre-Raphaelite symbolism. After Alfred Kinsey's revelations of male sexuality, published in 1948, an enormous photographic market emerged for pictures of the muscular male physique. Homoeroticism had entered the mainstream photographic language.
In this ground-breaking book organised by Gilles Mora with a substantial text by Pierre Bohran, the whole history of the genre is charted from its clandestine origins to its open glorification, including the work of photographic masters such as Brassai and August Sander, as well as the notorious underground excursions of Robert Mapplethorpe. We can follow how a homosexual view has now shaped the new iconography of fashion and the public male image.
About the Author
Pierre Borhan, formerly worked at Le Patromoine Photographique, Paris.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book shows graphically that progress isn't always in forward motion. It's a book crammed with beautiful, homoerotic and thought provoking photographs from the late Victorian period up to the present day. I wouldn't deny that there has been huge progress in gay rights and public acceptance of same sex relationships, but going on the photographic evidence in this book I have to say that I regret the loss of the feelings of freedom and 'naturalness' so obvious in the early sepia images. Many of them show a loving intimacy and unforced eroticism that's lacking from a lot of the present day images. True, the modern pictures are very creative and artistically imaginative, but all too often they appear forced and 'hard' compared to the gentle naivete of the early pictures. Even the images from the forties & fifties seem much freer and less self conscious, given the repressiveness and stigmatism attached to being gay in that era, than those from the supposedly 'permissive society' of the sixties onwards. Perhaps modern photographers should take a look in the archives and try to re-introduce a bit of 'TLC' back into their art! A lovely book that I quite happily leave around the place for friends of all persuasions to flick through. Sexy but not dirty.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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1 review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A Comprehensive, Intelligent, and Elegant Photographic History
9 Jan 2012
Format:Hardcover
MEN FOR MEN: HOMOERTICISM AND MALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE HISOTY OF PHOTOGRAPHY, 1840 - 2006 is the much awaited compendium that explores in depth the history of gay photography while providing an important sociological treatise illustrated by some of the finest reproductions of early daguerreotypes to the luminous black and white and full color artworks of today. Author Pierre Borhan sets the pace for the book in an enlightening Foreword 'Coming to Terms' in which he succinctly gives an overview of the chances taken, the fears, the bravery and the ultimate success of photographers who dared to document man to man relationships and subject matter since the inception of the art of photography. This is an immensely readable book as well as a rich collection of fine photographs from 1840 to the present.
The book is divided into sections that not only represent periods of time but also the development of attitude toward male photography. The first section 1840 - 1918: THE SLOW EMERGENCE OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN PHOTOGRAPHY draws upon posed studio images of men as friends (re Walt Whitman) and proceeds into the trend of voyeurism (as in Wilhelm von Gloeden and Wilhelm von Pluschow's recreation of mythological scenes) that provided images to a closeted group of buyers. The second section 1918 - 1969: THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S CHOICE - SUPPRESSION OR EMANCIPATION sites the emergence of gay male photographers who moved from the format of athletes as models, through the now famous Athletic Model Guild, Bruce of Los Angeles, George Platt Lynes, and the many anonymous images of eroticism that became readily available. The final section 1969 - 2006: ART PHOTOGRAPHERS DECLARE THEIR HOMOSEXUALITY is especially fine in examining the importance of male nudes in the marketing industry, and the infamous works of Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, John Dugdale, Jan Saudek, Pierre et Gilles, Nan Golden, Tom Bianchi, Duane Michals, Andreas Bitesnich among other preeminent artists whose images are now widely collected by museums and the general public.
Borhan is assisted by Olivier Saillard and Gilles Mora in editing and researching this excellent book. If there are important omissions (where are the works of the new and important sensitive photographers such as Adam Raphael, Norm Yip, John Sonsini and Lyle Ashton Harris to name but a few?), there are more than a small number of photographers whose works will be new to the viewer. The quality of reproduction is top notch and the paper is the finest. On the cover is an image of Jean Marais, the lover of Jean Cocteau, whose face and body helped to bring serious attention to the subject of this excellent survey. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, January 12
The book is divided into sections that not only represent periods of time but also the development of attitude toward male photography. The first section 1840 - 1918: THE SLOW EMERGENCE OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN PHOTOGRAPHY draws upon posed studio images of men as friends (re Walt Whitman) and proceeds into the trend of voyeurism (as in Wilhelm von Gloeden and Wilhelm von Pluschow's recreation of mythological scenes) that provided images to a closeted group of buyers. The second section 1918 - 1969: THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S CHOICE - SUPPRESSION OR EMANCIPATION sites the emergence of gay male photographers who moved from the format of athletes as models, through the now famous Athletic Model Guild, Bruce of Los Angeles, George Platt Lynes, and the many anonymous images of eroticism that became readily available. The final section 1969 - 2006: ART PHOTOGRAPHERS DECLARE THEIR HOMOSEXUALITY is especially fine in examining the importance of male nudes in the marketing industry, and the infamous works of Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, John Dugdale, Jan Saudek, Pierre et Gilles, Nan Golden, Tom Bianchi, Duane Michals, Andreas Bitesnich among other preeminent artists whose images are now widely collected by museums and the general public.
Borhan is assisted by Olivier Saillard and Gilles Mora in editing and researching this excellent book. If there are important omissions (where are the works of the new and important sensitive photographers such as Adam Raphael, Norm Yip, John Sonsini and Lyle Ashton Harris to name but a few?), there are more than a small number of photographers whose works will be new to the viewer. The quality of reproduction is top notch and the paper is the finest. On the cover is an image of Jean Marais, the lover of Jean Cocteau, whose face and body helped to bring serious attention to the subject of this excellent survey. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, January 12
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