Wilhelm Von Gloeden

The young German Wilhelm von Gloeden - barely twenty-two - arrived in Taormina in 1878 after a brief stop in Naples. He immediately became involved in photography as he was much fascinated by this new medium after his stepfather had given him a camera. This book features a collection of the pictures he took of the mythical landscapes around Vesuvius and Etna: the volcanoes on one side and the sea on the other, and, of course, the sun of the south. Also featured are many of his pastoral rude studies of Sicilian boys, which usually featured props such as wreaths or amphorae suggesting a setting in the Greece or Italy of antiquity. From a modern standpoint, his work stands out due to his controlled use of lighting as well as the elegant poses of his models. Innovative use of photographic filters and special body makeup contributed to the artistic perfection of his works. Famous in his own day, von Gloeden's work was subsequently hidder 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."