The Homoerotic Photograph : Male Images from Durieu / Delacroix to Mapplethorpe [Hardcover]

Allen Ellenzweig (Author), George Stambolian (Author)

Book Description

Series: Between Men-Between Women: Lesbian & Gay Studies | Publication Date: April 15, 1992

-- Los Angeles Times Book Review

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Discussing artists ranging from Thomas Eakins to Robert Mapplethorpe in this lavishly illustrated survey, Ellenzweig maintains that until very recently male homoerotic photographs were presented in terms acceptable to a wide audience. A photography and art critic and administrator at New York University, he first examines the theatrical shots French photographer Eugene Durieu made with painter Eugene Delacroix in the 1850s--pictures that paved the way for the academic nude. Eakins's Philadelphia pastorals of the 1880s--photos of naked young men at play--were embraced as genre scenes. Prussian baron Wilhelm von Gloeden's images of unclad Sicilian youths in Mediterranean sunlight were taken as allusions to Greek classics. Brassai's steamy 1930s pictures of Paris's gay and lesbian subculture were viewed as sociological documents. Only in photography's recent history, asserts Ellenzweig, have works dealing with male nudity and male homosexual relations been stigmatized in psychiatric terms. Featured among the 127 mostly explicit duotone photographs are works by Minor White, Arthur Tress, Duane Michals and Peter Hujar.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Ellenzweig's long, thorough text is a model of scholarship that succeeds in interweaving the evolution of gay culture, and how it related to changes in the culture at large, with art history. -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

Product Details

• Hardcover: 230 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (April 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231075367
• ISBN-13: 978-0231075367
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 10.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,383,622 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful images!, November 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Homoerotic Photograph : Male Images from Durieu / Delacroix to Mapplethorpe (Hardcover)

I first got this book as a present, and thought that it would be a picture book about beefy gym-bodied men with little substance. Upon reading and looking through the book, my impressions were quickly turned around. This book has a wonderful collection of pictures dating back to the 1800s that show how men have been portrayed by various photographers through the years. Some images are very striking and almost appalling, while others accentuate male form. The text that accompanies the pictures is very informative and critical, making the reader think while he looks upon the images. This is a book that I now enjoy returning to in order to see that the male body has so many possible portrayals. I was even impressed to see my own college professor's work in the book!!