What are you thinking about?

 

 

  

Wilhelm von Gloeden — Albumen Print — Details — Private collection

Smile

Von Gloeden — Albumen print  (detail) — July 1897

Private collection

"Il Signore Barone was so funny... He spoke Italian with a weird German accent... And instead of "si", he said "ja ja ja"... So funny...

This photo was shot at the San Domenico monastery, in the cloister. Il Barone asked us to undress. The both of us were nude... Actually, at the time, we were used to hang on with our friends totally naked... At the beach, while swimming, while fishing... And sometimes in the mountain as well, at the peak of the heatwave, when we  were looking after our fathers goats...

At that time, I did not understand why Il Signore Barone wanted us to be naked... He was telling us about poets, gods and heroes, about Greeks and Romans, about the beauty of youth, about art and painting...

Il Signore Barone was very kind to us... He was generous too, and he offered small gifts, sometimes money for the photo session. 

Usually, it took quite a lot of time. Il Barone was checking the light, the background. He was cleaning us when we were a bit dirty and dusty, after working in the mountain or in the fields of olive-trees...

He was fine tuning our poses arms, legs, face, gaze, the way we should stand up, the way we should look at him.

Il Signore Gloeden was a true artist, like a painter, and sometimes like a sculptor, when he touched us to turn our body in the right direction, to have the best view on the small of our backs, on our shoulders, on our chests, on our tighs and legs...

"Don't move, don't breathe !  Bellisimi ragazzi, perfetto, grazie tanto, ja ja ja ja ja !"

I should share with you a little secret. 

You probably wonder why I am smiling that way on this photograph...I tried hard to stop a laughter actually...

You know why ? Because while we were standing on each side of this column, with my friend, totally naked, il Padre Alberto, il Priest di Taormina, entered the cloister.

He saw us. he raised his eyes to heaven and we heard: "Madre Dio Madonna Gesu Paster noster Ave Maria..."

Il Barone waved to him: "Hello hello, Padre, buon giorno !!!"

Il Padre Alberto and il Signore Gloeden were wery good friends, actually... Today, I suspect that Alberto was not totally unconcerned about Gloeden's photographs and the boys of Taormina...

Perhaps Il Signore gave him an albumen print of this photo, shot in the San Domenico's cloister, in july 1897, if I remember correctly...

So this is why I smile on this photograph... And just thinking about the Padre entering the cloister  and looking at the two of us, standing nude on each side of the column,   makes me laugh again today, so many years after..."

Von Gloeden Archive, Handwritten diary of G. T. , 1930. Call number: 1930/18

(GT was featured on many Gloeden's photographs. He was one of his favorite models)

Ode to Spring

Blossoming almond-trees

Blossoming boys

The spring is coming...

Taormina, at the end of XIXc century

Wilhelm von Gloeden — Albumen print — Private collection

Helios / Sun / Soleil

 

Von Gloeden — Albumen print — ca 1899 — Detail

Private collection

Le berger de Taormina / Taormina's shepherd (featuring Von Gloeden's dog)

 

 

 

 

Wilhelm von Gloeden — Albumen print — ca 1899 — Private collection

Boys of Taormina

 

Wilhelm von Gloeden — Albumen original print — Private collection

Les photographies de von Gloeden racontent des histoires. Elles s'inscrivent dans une tradition, dans une mythologie. Elles sont des poèmes visuels, la traduction visuelle des épigrammes de Straton, Méléagre et autres poètes de la Muse garçonnière. Elles disent le désir et la séduction, la beauté et la jeunesse, l'essence des garçons et l'initiation vers l'âge adulte...

Von Gloeden's photographs tell stories. They belong to a tradition, to a mythology. They are visual poems, the visual translation of Strato, Meleager  and so many other poets of the Mousa paidiké... They tell stories of desire and seduction, of beauty and youth, the essence of boyhood and initiation towards manhood...

Who were you ? / Qui étais-tu ?

 

 

 

Wilhelm von Gloeden — Portrait (albumen print) — No number on the reverse.

(Private collection)

Qui étais-tu, jeune homme au si beau visage ? 

Quel était ton nom, garçon de Taormina ?

Quelle a été ton histoire, ta vie, ton destin ?

Etais-tu un berger dans les montagnes ?

Cultivais-tu les oliviers ?

Ou étais-tu un marin, un pêcheur ?

A quoi rêves-tu, avec tes beaux yeux perdus dans le vide ?

Sais-tu qu'aujourd'hui ton visage, ton regard me font rêver ?

Je penserai à toi

La prochaine fois 

Que j'irai à Taormina...

Who where you, cute lad with such a beautiful face?

What was your name, boy from Taormina?

What was your story, you life, your fate?

Were you a shepherd in the mountains?

Were you cultivating olive tree?

Or were you a sailor, a fisherman?

What are you dreaming about, with your beautiful eyes lost in the void?

Do you know today your face, your eyes make me dream?

I will remember and think about you

New time

I will go to Taormina