Von Gloeden, Young man with a crown of flowers (ca. 1900)
"Dear Pancrazio,
Thank you so much for your letter and for the news from Taormina. I feel so sad, so sorry about the raids of fascist police. How did they dare ? You told me they destroyed so many photographic plates... No print will ever be possible from them... Fascists are killing dreams, desires, imagination and just humanity...
Is there still a space for imagination, for longing, for desire ? Are we still allowed to dream about beauty and youth ? Is it still possible to dream about a photograph ? It is still possible to have a private, an intimate space where one could love who he/she wants?
Dear Pancrazio, the photographs of von Gloeden are an horizon, a landscape, an eldorado, a paradise... Looking at them made me happy... I know I cannot go beyond the photograph, I cannot go through the photographic print: the cute lade is somewhere else, out of reach.
These photographs are so perfect, so elaborated, so relevant. The stage set up, the pose of the model, his face expression, the props, everything is so beautiful...
What Fascist police does not understand is that such pictures are not pornography, they are just an hymn to the beauty of lads, they are a visual translation of so many Greek and Roman texts we studied in our schools, gymnasia and universities....
The model's nudity is not my main focus... I feel seduced by the whole stage set-up, by flowers and plants, by the model's face, by the curves of his body, by the way he is standing in front of the camera...
I have a small collection of Von Goeden's photographs. Most of them are vintage prints, I have a few later prints..
I felt in love with a few of von Gloeden's boys. I talk to them when I look at their photographs, sometimes I ever write poems for them.. They make me dream, they make me happy, they answer in such a perfect way to my dreams, to my desires...
Beyond their sepia backgound, dear Pancrazio, these photographs are such an inspiration, such a world to dive in...
My dear Pancrazio, of course I felt in love with the photograph you sent me.. Comments are useless, silence is required.
So many thanks from the depth of my heart
All the best
Philip
Von Gloeden Archive, 13 May 1935 (1935/05/13)
2 comments:
Magnifique photo !
Comme vous le savez, elle figure en couverture de l'édition donnée par Ambert de Partenza... vers la beauté du cher Achille Essebac, le premier écrivain à avoir fait connaître en France les photographies du baron von Gloeden.
We will be ever indebted to Pancrazio Buciunì (U Moru, Il Moro) for his courage and his loyalty in preserving the work of von Glöden.
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