Homoerotic photography when it was criminalised? JoJo.Riedel black & white homoerotic photography on Twitter
Homoerotic photography by JoJoRiedel
Homoerotic photography is one of my favourite types of photography and eroticism. I particularly love black and white homoerotic photos. In my opinion, black and white photos tend to be more homoerotic that those in colour. What do you think?
I promise not to give too much space to the history of homoerotic photography. However, I think it is essential to look back at the roots of that genre. I suppose there is no surprise that homoerotic photography is as old as photography.
In 1933, poet Charles Henri Ford and critic Parker Tyler published a collaborative novel titled The Young and the Evil, the story of two genderqueer characters cavorting in New York’s gay underground. The book inspired a 2019 exhibition at David Zwirner of the same name curated by Jarrett Earnest, which presented a look into a collective of LGBTQ artists working in New York during this time including photographer George Platt Lynes (1907-1955).
One of the foremost photographers of his time, Lynes moved through circles of high society, fashion, and fine art. He photographed for everyone from Vogue to George Balanchine, but what he most loved were secret studies of the male nude, which he later sold to Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction to support his extravagant lifestyle. “He was hoping to elevate male nudes to fine art,” says gallerist Brian Paul Clamp.
In 1981, Twelvetrees Press reintroduced works from the Kinsey collection in the seminal monograph George Platt Lynes Photographs 1931–1955, which would inspire a new generation of artists including Robert Mapplethorpe, Bruce Weber, and Herb Ritts to use the timeless allure of the male form to transgress the Puritanical restrictions of American culture during the height of AIDS.
Writer, Author, Storyteller and Photographer – b&w photography. The naked body is art formed by nature. The representation of the naked body is not pornography.
I am neither a photographer nor an expert in photography. However, I have my preferences when it comes to photography. I found JoJo.Riedel by accident on Twitter, and I think his art deserves some attention from the queer community. Therefore, I am publishing this article. It is also my modest attempt to promote JoJo.Riedel and his homoerotic photography. The link to his Twitter Profile is below.
