He held a very open studio in München and often had the press present while working with male models
Von Stuck was instrumental and examplary in setting up a true Freikörperkultur way of working Thomas fled Germany in 1936 and through te war years supported resistance with talks in German on the BBC That we all got to know through Visconti's film version Original writer of the book on unanswered gay love "Death in Venice" Which later was the blueprint for the film that catapulted Marlène Dietrich's carreerĪs a dike icon with her masculine attitude in "Der Blaue Engel" To the right here Schiele's Sebastian as a poster for his exhibition in 1915īut their writing has remained inspirational for many artists and works till this day.īelow left we see Heinrich, who wrote the book shown left,
Wotruba retreated to ever more kubistic, non figurative workĪs the years went on and National Socialism's thought grew ever more dominant these styles had to go underground, as they were considered degenerate and "jewish" art.
I must mention he was not predominantly homosexual he drew a lot of women too. Schiele was for some time under arrest for making too erotic work, but he did not live to experience the brunt of repression. In the early years there was still room for modernist influences:Įgon Schiele and Fritz Wotruba were prime examples of the modernist school thriving early 20th century in Vienna Not all artists drew from the classisistic traditions. That was allowed to spread all over the emerging "Deutsches Reich" during the Weimar republic. Luckily a lot of examples remain that radiate the freedom of expression,īut also the naivety and belief in the perfect democracy, Hans Zank, * 1889 Berlin † 1967 Falkensee I hope I managed to get some impression on what life was like in those intriguing days. Much has been destroyed and I have to resort a lot to remaining (black and white) photographs. This page tries to steer clear of judgements but does try to point out that the traditional uninhibited way the Germans looked at bodyculture and the way they used it in raising their youth in exploring comradship, nature and sports had a lot of beauty and was laden with what we could see as pretty homo-erotic signals. At first tolerance was assimilated, but after the collapse of the Weimar republic repession fell in from all directions. Power shifted to much stricter, more military Prussia and Berlin. At the turn of the century we find a very tolerant society, radiating from Wien, capital of the collapsing Central European empire, and München, still rich with centuries old feodal-agricultural structures. 1860sġ9th century male lovers with flower hatsĪ gentlemen couple hand in hand, ca.German homo erotic art first half 20th centuryĪ period that is very hard to document is that of Germany, or central Europe, before the second world war. Unidentified soldiers in Union uniforms holding cigars in each other's mouths, ca. Two unidentified Union Army soldiers, 1864 Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, 1893Ī male couple with hats and open waistcoats, ca. Doctors and psychologists, believing that homosexuality could be cured, tried methods such as hypnosis and aversion therapy.Ī middle-aged gay couple in the late 1800sĪn affectionate pair from the late 19th century
Gay men were commonly seen by society as perverts who had chosen their sexuality, or as diseased individuals whose sexuality was caused by their upbringing and biology, and not something they were born with. However, the laws were selectively applied and thus were not a great threat to gay men, as long as they were discreet and avoided scandal. The witch hunts and mass hangings began, and the number of convictions rose. During the 19th century the silence in England was broken, and police began actively fighting the "problem" of homosexuality.