Wilhelm von Gloeden

Wilhelm von Gloeden – Studies in art history and painting; move to Sicily

Wilhlem von Gloeden is said to have been born on 18 September 1856, the son of a baron and officer at Schloss Volkshagen near Wismar. Research has questioned these details, however, as neither the title of baron nor the existence of a historical castle can be found. The noble descent from the Gloeden family is undoubted, but only the grandfather was an officer, whilst his father is documented as a forester in Volkshagen. Hermann von Gloeden died in 1862 and two years later, Wilhelm von Gloeden had to come to terms with his lifelong unbeloved stepfather Wilhelm Joachim von Hammerstein. He was close to his half-sister Sophie Rabe, daughter from his mother’s first marriage, and she later accompanied him for many years on his travels through Sicily. Wilhelm von Gloeden had an early interest in theatre and studied painting and art history. Chronic lung disease forced him to move to Sicily in 1876 and he found a lifelong home there in Taormina.

Friendship with Otto Geleng; boy nudes in arcadia

For the homosexual Wilhelm von Gloeden, the small town on the east coast of Sicily was a paradise, where he could openly live out his inclinations and also realise them in his work. His friendship with the mayor of Taormina, the German compatriot and painter Otto Geleng, played a significant role in this. The certain prosperity that von Gloeden brought with him probably assisted in his acceptance amongst Taormina’s people, who mostly lived in poor circumstances. He began his boy nudes in 1880 and quickly became a local celebrity. Photography was merely a hobby for von Gloeden at first, but due to the Hammerstein affair which sent his stepfather to prison and deprived his family of their fortune, he was forced to turn his pastime into a money-making venture. He therefore intensified his photographic efforts, arranged the naked boys in a setting reminiscent of ancient arcadia, and even became the first ever photographer to use special makeup to retouch any blemishes on his models’ skin. In this way, he transformed the hard-working peasant boys into images of his erotic fantasies.

Great fame and prominent admirers

His particular choice of motif brought Wilhelm von Gloeden great popularity during his lifetime, not inconsiderable wealth and a mention in the Baedeker, and also attracted illustrious personalities such as Friedrich Alfred Krupp, Richard Strauss, Oscar Wilde and even the German Emperor Wilhelm II to Taormina. The First World War forced von Gloeden back to Germany and he could only return to Sicily in 1918, after which he rarely took photographs. Wilhelm von Gloeden died on 16 February 1931 in Taormina. As early as 1949, the French scandal author Roger Peyrefitte wrote a novel-length biography on the artist which he expressly dedicated only to the “lustful and the artists”. Otherwise, Wilhelm von Gloeden’s work was forgotten for a time until the sexual revolution of the 1960s rediscovered it with great delight and under the protest of the youth welfare offices. Today, the majority of the photographs are in the hands of private collectors.