"Taormina"

albumen print, matte on vat paper

signed, dated and placed (ink) on recto; collection stamp (Sammlung Franz Toth) on verso

Wilhelm von Gloeden worked with a plate camera, which required a long exposure time. His photographs therefore had to be carefully staged, which may have contributed to the great, almost archaic peace that his photographs often radiate. He was one of the first photographers to take nude photographs outdoors. The collodion process used required the glass plate to be sensitized, exposed, and immediately developed on location, so Gloeden carried a kind of mobile darkroom with him. Gloeden left about 3,000 photographs, most of which were destroyed by the fascist police under Mussolini on charges of pornography.
In the 1960s, Gloeden was rediscovered during the sexual revolution. His photographs were exhibited at documenta 6 in Kassel in 1977, among others. Artists such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Cecil Beaton, Andy Warhol, and Bruce Weber appreciated and collected his photographs. In 1978 the artist Joseph Beuys produced a multiple titled "von Gloeden-Postcards", consisting of 13 pencil-drawn, signed, and numbered postcards with motifs of Gloeden. A large part of gay post-war photography shows the influence of Gloeden. This print comes from the collection of the photographer and photo historian Franz Toth.

(Wikipedia, translation)