Anatomy of a photograph

"— Wilhelm, please, tell me, tell me what is the secret of this photograph ?

— My secret, Philip ? I am looking at the world as one listens to music. I try to catch harmonics, a melody, a rythm... I am creating a photograph as a painter creates his painting. I am building a stage set up, I try to catch light, poetry and the harmonics of a unique moment... 

— Wilhelm, please, tell me something more, what is the secret of this photograph ?

— Philip, there is this blossoming almond tree in the background, a symbol of spring and youth... There is also Marco, my model: he is naked, he is sitting on a rock. There is also a snake, it came from the depths of earth, it is the night, it is death, it was mastered by Marco, Taormina's Hermes, who is always travelling between the world of death and the world of life...

— Wilhelm, a snake is an archetype, as Carl Jung would say... It is also a symbol, an animal phallus, according to Sigmund Freud...

— Maybe, yes, maybe... but how a snake from Taormina could be reduced to an archetype or to a symbol ?

— Wilhelm, my friend, I have another question... Why are you retouching your photographs with a pen? 

— My photographs are paintings, each print is unique, and I love to add a final touch with my pen... Here, I chose to emphasize hairs as well as the line of my model's closed eyes... It is an emphasis, a visual punctuation, a final touch...

— Wilhelm, your final touches are like caresses... 

— Yes, Philip, you are right, I caressed the curve of this body, I draw a shoreline between this boy's body and the almond-tree flowers... It is just a gesture, an inked line, to emphasize a young body's beauty...

— Wilhelm, you are signing your photographs as a painter is signing his paintings...

— Each photograph is unique... I print it upon a buyer's request... and I love to add my signature and the date, to root my photograph in time and history... I signed and dated this photograph for you, Philip... My name is like a tatto on the photograph: "Glöden"...

— What is the meaning, dear Wilhlem, of the mysterious signs on the top of the photograph ? 

— A photograph is like a mirror, Philip... You should look at my photograph through a mirror... You will be able to read what I wrote on the negative plate...  

— I can read... "1251 Baron von..."

— I love this little visual riddle submitted to the buyers of my photographs... But, please, tell me, Philip, my friend... Why did you choose to buy this particular photograph ? 

— I felt in love with this boy, dear Baron, my friend... and I love the dream out of reach, the dream he is living and looking at... I love this photograph with the emphasis of your drawing pen, I love this mirror of my dreams and desires, in Taormina, 1908..."

Transcript of a talk between Wilhelm von Gloeden and Philip X.

Philip, Taormina Diary, Hotel San Domenico, September 12,  1908 (unpublished, private collection).