Retro gay pictures

This article was originally published onVICE Italy.

Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell are Texan art collectors, who got “unofficially” married in 1992.

By 1902, Robert Faries had invented a rudimentary device to shoot self-portraits, but it doesn’t appear to have been used in many of these pictures. The answer, according to the collectors, is that couples would get help from friends and family. This one showed two soldiers in the 1940s, posing cheek-to-cheek, with an etching on the art deco glass frame that said, “Yours always.”

Thanks to the pair’s formidable research and passion, today their collection amounts to over 2,800 vintage photographs spanning from roughly 1850 to 1951, shot in Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Japan, Latvia, the UK and the USA.

The story of the collection is told by Hugh and Neal in the essay “An accidental collection”, included in their book, Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love 1850s-1950s, published by 5 Continents Editions.

Over the years, the pair studied the images, attempting to decode the signs of “one hundred years of social history”, and found some recurring symbols.

These old photos remind us that such cruel laws still exist, and give us a candid insight into hidden love from the past.

Books

Hundreds of photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries offer a glimpse at the life of gay men during a time when their love was illegal almost everywhere.

A beautiful group of photographs that spans a century (1850–1950) is part of a new book that offers a visual glimpse of what life may have been like for those men, who went against the law to find love in one another’s arms.

With time, however, they found plenty—far more than they needed to fill a book.

Following the photography book’s publication in 2020, the images resonated with readers all over the world. “All social classes and ages are represented, from workers to businessmen, including students, soldiers and sailors.”

Many of the photographs were in near-perfect condition when Nini and Treadwell found them, which suggests they were safely hidden away somewhere over the decades.

The identities of the photographers and subjects connected to most of the images are a mystery.

“The pictures adopt the same staging as for heterosexual couples: couples pose at the bow of a ship, on the branch of a tree, at the beach, in the forest and in bed, and they sometimes also simulate a wedding stance,” per a statement from the Musee d’Art et d’Histoire.

So far, more than 4,000 such images—all taken between the 1850s and 1950s—have been found.

Now, 400 of these romantic snapshots are on display at the Musée Rath in Geneva, Switzerland, which hosts the Musee d’Art et d’Histoire’s temporary exhibitions. The collection belongs to Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell, a married couple who has accumulated over 2,800 photographs of “men in love” during the course of two decades.

For example, they suggest that posing together under an umbrella, between the 1880s and 1920s, probably signified a romantic relationship; that wedding rings, bracelets and other tokens became increasingly common and reached a peak during WWII, when they were donned mainly by sailors and soldiers; and that photo booths (which appeared in the USA from 1924) were significant because, as they didn’t require a photographer or a developer, they allowed a couple to take a portrait without the fear of being “caught”.

So who did shoot the portraits of these lovers?

What are we looking for in the faces of these people who dared to challenge the mores of their time to seek solace together? While the majority of the images hail from the United States and are of predominantly white men, there are images from Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Japan, Latvia, and the United Kingdom among the cache.

What do images of men in love during a time when it was illegal tell us?

Taken in 1927, the snapshot showed two men embracing. When we see them as connected, we feel more whole, and that’s what love is about for many of us anyway.

The book, Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love 1850s-1950s (5 Continents Editions), is available online.

A new exhibition features romantic snapshots found at flea markets, antique shops and online auctions

In a series of photographs, men from around the world kiss, hug, picnic and gaze into each others’ eyes.

Flipping through the book, it wasn’t that I felt that I learned a great deal about being LGBTQ, but what gave me comfort was the feeling that we’re not going anywhere. Seeing ourselves in the past is as much about being certain of our present and, dare I say, our future.