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Lot 1
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Wilhelm von Pluschow (German, 1852-1930)
Wilhelm von Pluschow (German, 1852-1930)
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Wilhelm von Pluschow (Guglielmo Pluschow). 'Male Nude' c. 1900. Albumen silver print, printed c. 1900. Rare male photo dealer "Dutrey" stamp on print verso. 6 5/8 x 4 3/8".

While a lot more is to be learned about this rare Pluschow DUTREY photograph, what can be surmised is that Wilhelm von Pluschow was working with this photography dealer as his Paris representative. In 1900, the same year as this photograph, Pluschow, who identified as gay, like his cousin the photographer Wilhelm Von Gloeden, was charged in Italy with "outraging public morals" and subsequently served eight months in jail. His model turned photographer Vincenzo Galdi (1871-1961) was considered his accomplice, according to correspondence from the exiled gay British painter Robert Hawthorn Kitson (1873-1947). At the same time of his arrest and subsequent arrests, the Italian authorities seized and destroyed much of Pluschow's photography.

The verso of the DUTREY photograph is stamped with the address 3 Rue Muller between two six-pointed stars. The stars presumably were trade dress; the street address is in the Montmartre district of Paris. What we know then about DUTREY is from the advertisements for this photo dealer found in 'La Vie En Rose,' a Belle Epoque bawdy Parisian newsstand publication covering Paris nightlife and in particular prostitution, illustrated in the Art Nouveau style.

In turn of the century Paris, both female and male prostitution was prevalent, though both were exclusively patronized by men. DUTREY advertised in 'La Vie En Rose' and, much like the advertisers in 1950s American male physique publications, offered erotic photographs perhaps too explicit for a publication like 'La Vie En Rose.'

Between 1900 and 1903, 'La Vie En Rose' was under attack by the censors for being pornographic. Louis Morin (1855-1938), who illustrated for 'La Vie En Rose,' and other French artists (e.g., Jean Louis Forain and Louis Legrand) also found themselves under fire by the authorities. In 1902, for example, there is a record of Rene Berenger and his "League Against Licentiousness in the Street" of having brought an obscenity suit against 'La Vie En Rose.' With regard to homosexuality, attitudes at the time were mixed, and for the censors, homosexuality was an easy line of attack, making male prostitution and images like the Pluschow DUTREY image juridically risky.

The device of the leopard pelt in the Pluschow DUTREY photograph appears in the French photographer's Eugene Durieu (1800-1874) earlier scarce work. The images Durieu made for the painter Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863), for example, use a draped leopard pelt over the male subject. Perhaps Pluschow was using the leopard skin prop because it was imbued with a lost, although recognizable, homoerotic meaning. Or perhaps Durieu and Pluschow were evoking classical antiquity, in particular Dionysus, the god of wine and pleasure. With regard to the classical motifs used in the Pluschow DUTREY photograph, Wilhelm (Baron) Von Gloeden (1856-1931) used classical poses with his models as well. Nevertheless, despite the artfulness of Von Gloeden and Pluschow, their intentional homoeroticism is art historically irrefutable.

The Pluschow DUTREY photograph is adept in the artful composition of the model, who is posed in a way that is evocative of the amphora-style vase on the table to the left (the device shows up in several other known Pluschow photographs), suggesting that Pluschow was invested in both expressing himself artistically as well as highlighting the eroticism of the male form. The Pluschow DUTREY photograph also uses an Art Nouveau painting or painted backdrop evocative of the art of Aubrey Beardsley and Alphonse Mucha, furthering the argument for aesthetic intent and artistry. The Art Nouveau backdrop appears in a Pluschow photograph also from the year 1900, featuring perhaps the same male model, which is now in the collection of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.

There are more reasons that the Pluschow DUTREY photograph should not have survived. Consider the Von Gloeden archive of male nudes in possession of his lover Pancrazio Buciuni (1879-1963), much of which was destroyed by the police at the behest of the Vatican in alliance with Mussolini. Consider the first gay journal, the German publication 'Der Eigene,' which in 1933 was seized by the Gestapo. The archives of which were given to the head of the paramilitary arm of the Nazi party, the notorious self-loathing Ernst Rohm.

While much more is to be learned about the business of DUTREY, the Pluschow DUTREY photograph is a rare early example of a mass-produced homoerotic image that the merged technologies that became photography made possible and which then contributed to a shared modern gay identity.

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by Vallot Auctioneers
October 31, 2024 12:00 PM EDT
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