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LOVING: A Photographic History of Men in Love 1850s–1950s is a visual narrative of rare sensitivity showcasing a unique collection of over 2,700 photographs taken between the 1850s and 1950s depicting romantic love between men taken in the most varied contexts (in domestic, military, or natural settings, such as parks and beaches). We all know what it means to fall in love, to manifest one’s feelings, and this awareness emerges with strength to anyone who leafs through LOVING. To love and be loved becomes the one paradigm uniting all humanity. The feelings and emotions that emerge from it are impetuous, all-embracing, and sometimes inexpressible.
Readers are introduced to the photographic narrative by the contribution of Paolo Maria Noseda, as well as a text by Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell, a Texan couple residing in New York who, for over twenty years, have been collecting photographs that bear witness to romantic love between men.
The collection was born in a totally accidental fashion—the first pictures were purchased at flea markets—and includes photographs that are set even outside the United States, in several other countries, such as Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Latvia, the United Kingdom, and Russia.
In most cases, the couples are the sole subjects of the image, but there are many instances in which there are other characters with the not-so-subtlety concealed role of witnesses. To these we must of course add the photographer, who is often the only person capable of immortalizing the scene that appears before their eyes. Readers will not in fact be able to disregard the chronologic contextualization of the shots, nor forget that behind each one is concealed an often forbidden love full of hardship and repressed emotions.
The over 300 images animating this volume also point to the innumerable transformations that took place between the 19th and the 20th century in the areas of fashion, hairstyle, and automobile design.
Author: Nugh Nini, Neal Treadwell, and Paolo Maria Noseda
Hardback Published October 2020 336 pages