Frame and Preparation
Junge Männer
Conceptual Frames and Background
- Photography
- Erotica
- Gay portraiture
- Same-sex desire
- Male gaze
- Homoeroticism
- Intergenerational relationships
Introduction
There are thousands of Herbert List photographs. He is most famous for his classically staged and expertly made pictures and portraits of half-naked or naked young men. I would thus suggest the collection Junge Männer, and to select one or two dozen photographs to discuss as a class, depending on the narrative you want to construct in your discussion
Preparation
- Some of the photographs are of teenage boys and young adult men, which may make some students uncomfortable. It is necessary to explain the historical and cultural contexts of these photographs and distance them from accusations of pedophilia: the ancient Greek tradition of young male beauty, the prominence of such homoerotic photography in the early and mid-20th century in Germany, different standards of taste and sexual propriety during List’s life, etc.
- Talking critically about photography may seem to most students very hard, not knowing the vocabulary or where to begin in approaching the work of art. Thus, I would highly suggest providing them vocabulary, ideas, and examples of methodologies to show them how one interprets photography in an academic setting, especially formally: light, composition, development, allusions to other works of art, texture, etc.
Text and Discussion
- Can we speak here of a “homoerotic gaze,” an adaptation of the more famous concept of the “male gaze” toward women?
- What does it mean to objectify male bodies by other men? What are the politics of such a gaze?
- What is the relationship between being object and being an object, especially of desire and sexuality?
- Can being an object constitute one’s own agency as a subject?
- Describe the subject positions of these photographed men. Are they given agency in the photographs? Can they achieve subjectivity?
- What are the differences between pornography, erotica, and “art”? Are there any?
- What can these photographs tell us about gay male desire during the 20th century?
- What role do visual media such as photography play in forming gay identity?
- Can we speak here of a gay aesthetics?
- Compare them to other examples of (heterosexual) erotic art.