The collection now includes photos from all over the world: Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Japan, Greece, Latvia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and Serbia. Taken when male partnerships were often illegal, the photos here were found at flea markets, in shoe boxes, family archives, old suitcases, and later online and at auctions. This visual narrative of astonishing sensitivity brings to light an until-now-unpublished collection of hundreds of snapshots, portraits, and group photos taken in the most varied of contexts, both private and public. Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love, 1850-1950 portrays the history of romantic love between men in hundreds of moving and tender vernacular photographs taken between the years 18. Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love, 1850-1950
Kick the Ick | Facebook Group (Private: you need to join)Īdonises of the Silver Screen (Silent Era to 1980s) | Facebook Group (Private: you need to join) Discovering Gay Tik Tok | My Reaction | Bradley Birkholz | Gay’s the Word Book Shop | MEN R US Vintage Gay Love | Glen Moore (Pinterest) Vintage Workingmen Beefcake | Facebook Group (Private: you need to join) This vintage photo of two lifeguards who were maybe probably more than friends has everyone talking | Queerty | ‘Not married but willing to be!’: men in love from the 1850s – in pictures | The Guardian | Nevertheless, it’s difficult not to be moved by these men loving men, immortalised on nitrate and cellulose acetate film, for us to celebrate and remember. LGBT+ people have come such a long way in 100 years so perhaps it’s a little silly to compare photographs like these with TikTok. One can only imagine the days leading to the click of the shutter, and the stories behind each photograph. We were innocents.” In contrast, many of the vintage photographs in “Loving” seem to express a forbidden love in which burned hardship and repressed emotions. “ Back then we were in the early days of a revolution that seemed inevitably headed to a more loving, playful and tolerant way of being. Some of the smaller codified gestures can be difficult to find while the position of a hand, entwined legs, or even a kiss seem terrifyingly brave. While it’s almost impolite not to strip off for your boyfriend on camera, there’s something more in these everyday vintage photographs filled with love and d efiance, and revealing how gay men are threaded through – while also apart from – society and history. This is a far cry from today’s TikTok endorphin soaked gay culture. And yet, the same year, the United States Department of Defence standardised anti-homosexual regulations across all branches of the military: “Homosexual personnel, irrespective of sex, should not be permitted to serve in any branch of the Armed Forces in any capacity, and prompt separation of known homosexuals from the Armed Forces is mandatory.” But, there is something seductive, even heartwarming, to want to believe that they embarked on the holiday romance of a lifetime. It’s also worth noting that the Polaroids were taken on the cusp of the HIV and AIDS epidemic which laid waste a generation of gay men like those depicted, many starting out in life.Īs for Buzz and Tommy, all we have are clues and it’s unlikely we’ll ever know their story. The book’s photographs and Polaroids are a testament to love and affection between men at a time when being homosexual (or gay) was illegal, with persecution and harsh prison sentences when caught. NYC Polaroids 1975 –1983” and “Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love, 1850-1950″ and the discovery of a photograph from 1949 of two men with a handwritten note on the back: “To Buzz, I’ll always remember the times we spent together … All my love, your Tommy.” This section is a happy accident, prompted by the publication of two books “63 E 9th Street. Domestic violence, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape.