thumb|262px|Coat of arms of the Gloeden family

Wilhelm Iwan Friederich August von Gloeden (September 16, 1856 – February 16, 1931), commonly known as Baron von Gloeden, was a German photographer who worked mainly in Italy. He is mostly known for his pastoral nude studies of Sicilian boys, which usually featured props such as wreaths or amphoras, suggesting a setting in the Greece or Italy of antiquity. His work demonstrates the controlled use of lighting as well as utilizing elegant poses of his models. His innovations include the use of photographic filters and special body makeup (a mixture of milk, olive oil, and glycerin) to disguise skin blemishes. His work, both landscapes and nudes, drew wealthy tourists to Sicily, particularly gay men uncomfortable in northern Europe.

Early life

Wilhelm von Gloeden was self-invented. He claimed to be the son of an officer and baron from Mecklenburg and gave "Schloss Volkshagen near Wismar" as his place of birth. However, there was no such castle. He was indeed born into a Mecklenburg branch of the German noble family von Glöden, but his title was false: the line of Freiherren von Glöden is well-documented, and he was not a member of the baronial line.

His father was Carl Hermann von Gloeden (1820–1862), who in 1851 was a forest ranger in Volkshagen (today Völkshagen, near Marlow, east of Rostock), and in 1856 became a forest inspector in Dargun. His mother, Charlotte, née Maassen, had previously been married to Johann Magnus Wilhelm Raabe. Gloeden was given a Protestant upbringing.

Hermann von Gloeden was an administrator of the hunting estates of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, whose superintendent was an illegitimate son of Frederick Louis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and his mistress, Luise Charlotte Ahrens, who had legitimized him by giving him the surname taken from an estate given to his son, the castle (actually a mansion) of Plüschow. His son married Charlotte Wilhemine Crull (1831–1891), the daughter of Hermann von Gloeden's half-sister, and one of their children was the male photographer Wilhelm von Plüschow.

After the death of his father, his mother married for a third time, to Wilhelm Joachim von Hammerstein in 1864. Hammerstein (1838–1904) had been mentored by Carl Hermann von Gloeden, and his forestry career led to him becoming a politician of the German Conservative Party and editor-in-chief of the Kreuzzeitung. Von Gloeden described the relationship with his stepfather as not good. The most important family connection for Wilhelm was his half-sister Sophie Raabe from his mother's first marriage, who lived with him in Sicily for years.

After studying art history in Rostock (1876), Gloeden studied painting under at the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School (1876–77) until he was forced by lung disease (apparently tuberculosis) to interrupt his studies for a year, convalescing at a sanatorium in the mountain resort of Görbersdorf, now known as Sokołowsko in Poland. Gloeden wrote: "I studied painting at the Academy of fine arts in Weimar under the master Karl Gehrts, but then I fell ill with tuberculosis and had to leave the studio to move to Görbersdorf, where I spent a year."

Taormina

In a search for health, Gloeden travelled to Italy (1877–78), first staying in Naples and visiting Capri before moving on to Taormina in Sicily. During his stay in Taormina, Gloeden had a Bohemian lifestyle and exploited the impoverished locals with his wealth and resources. He frequently held midnight orgies with the youths who worked for him, some of whom were still adolescents. The extent of these revelries remains unknown.

Works

thumb|right|180px|Boy disguised as an [[odalisque in Gloeden's garden in Taormina. The reverse bears the stamp of Gloeden's heir, Pancrazio Buciunì, and the date: May 16, 1914]]

thumb|180px|Burial Place of von Gloeden in Taormina

While today Gloeden is mainly known for his nudes and is considered "one of the founders of modern homosexual iconography", -->

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Further reading

  • Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden (1856–1931). Kunsthalle Basel (1979) Exhibition catalog, vol 4 devoted to von Gloeden (48 pages, 27 illus.).
  • 'Wilhelm Von Pluschow and Wilhelm Von Gloeden': Two Photo Essays. (IN: Studies in Visual Communications. Volume 9, Number 2, Spring 1983).
  • Roger Peyrefitte: Les Amours Singulières (Paris, Gallimard, 1949 & later editions)
  • Peter Weiermair: Wilhelm Von Gloeden: Erotic Photographs. (Cologne, Taschen Verlag, 1994)
  • Peter Weiermair: Wilhelm von Gloeden (Cologne, Taschen Verlag, 1996) (96 pages, mainly illus. 22&nbsp;cm; text in Ger., Engl. & Fr.)
  • Charles Leslie: Wilhelm Von Gloeden Photographer. A Brief Introduction to His Life and Work. (SoHo Photographic Publishers, New York, 1977) (143 pages, 31&nbsp;cm). Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 77-83146.
  • Charles Leslie: Wilhelm von Gloeden, 1856–1931: eine Einführung in Sein Leben u. Werk (Innsbruck, Allerheiligenpresse, 1980) (137 pages) (German edition of 1977 book)
  • Ulrich Pohlmann: Wilhelm von Gloeden: Taormina, (Munich, Schirmer Mosel, 1998) (95 pages, 53 illus., 21&nbsp;cm), German edition: English edition: (Pohlmann is head of the photographic archive at the Munich City Museum.)
  • Ulrich Pohlmann: Wilhelm von Gloeden. Sehnsucht nach Arkadien (Berlin, Nishen, 1987) (159 pages, mainly illus., 27x22cm) Issued in conjunction with an exhibition at the Stadt Museum, Munich.
  • Roger Peyrefitte: Wilhelm von Gloeden, (biography and 50 pictures of nudes by Gloeden). Editions Textes Gais, Paris (2008),
  • Tobias G. Natter & Peter Weiermair (editors): Et in Arcadia Ego: Turn-of-the-Century Photography (82 full page photographs, 25 by Gloeden, with introduction, assessment & biographical chronology; texts are in English & German.) (Edition Oehrli, Zurich, 2000)
  • Jack Woody (ed.): Taormina: Wilhelm von Gloeden (Pasadena, Twelvetrees Press, 1986) (112 pages, mainly illus. 35&nbsp;cm) (2nd edition 1990, 3rd 1997)
  • Jean-Claude Lemagny: Photographs of the classic male nude, Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden (New York, Camera/Graphic Press, 1977) (105 pages, mainly illus. 24&nbsp;cm)
  • Hans-Joachim Schickedanz (ed.): Wilhelm von Gloeden. Akte in Arkadien (Dortmund, Harenberg, 1987) (167 pages, 80 illus., some double-paged, 17.5&nbsp;cm) (New edition also 167 pages: Munich, Orbis, 2000 )
  • Vincenzo Galdi – Wilhelm von Gloeden – Wilhelm von Plüschow. Aktaufnahmen aus der Sammlung Scheid (Bibliothek des Blicks, Vol. 3: Aachen, Rimbaud-Verlag, 1993) (2nd revised edition 2009)
  • Ekkehard Hieronimus: Wilhelm von Gloeden. Photographien als Beschwörung (Aachen, Rimbaud-Presse, 1982) (62 pages 21&nbsp;cm)
  • Zannier, Italo (ed.) Exhibition catalogue (Milano Palazzo della Ragione 2008): Wilhelm von Gloeden: fotografie, nudi, paesaggi, scene di genere (Florence, Alinari, 2008) (191 pages, 154 illus. of a wide range of subjects from the Fratelli Alinari & Milan Civic Photographic Archive collections, with detailed catalogue, 29&nbsp;cm; text in Engl. & Ital.)
  • Joseph Kiermeier-Debre & Fritz Franz Vogel (eds.): Wilhelm von Gloeden – Auch ich in Arkadien (Vienna & Cologne, Böhlau Verlag, Oct. 2007) (208 pages, 350 col. illus., 34&nbsp;cm)
  • Galerie Au Bonheur du Jour Nicole Canet Editions : Paradis Siciliens, Paysages, portraits, Nus 1890–1905 (Paris, 2008) (96 pages, 65 illus.)
  • Nicole Canet: Wilhelm von Gloeden, Wilhelm von Pluschow, Vincenzo Galdi – Beautés Siciliennes (Photographies 1880 – 1915: Portraits, Scenes de genre et Nus) (Paris, 2014) with French & English texts (most of the 246 pages are illustrated)
  • Biography and gallery of his work #1
  • Biography and gallery of his work #2
  • Biography and gallery of his work #3
  • Wilhelm von Gloeden (1856–1931). Bibliography and original documents, mostly in Italian.