What do you think?
Rate this book
Taormina: Début de siècle
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Read
June 27, 2025Above all, a gorgeous book-as-object. An oversized volume exquisitely designed & produced by Jack Woody, it's simply a tactile pleasure to hold in one's hand & peruse.
Showcases a select series of von Gloeden's photographs, some of which have since become among his most famous, & reprints Barthes short essay on the Baron (not among his best, alas, but inevitably containing several pearls of great insight), & a nice bibliographical overview & Selected Bibliography contributed by Woody.
Showcases a select series of von Gloeden's photographs, some of which have since become among his most famous, & reprints Barthes short essay on the Baron (not among his best, alas, but inevitably containing several pearls of great insight), & a nice bibliographical overview & Selected Bibliography contributed by Woody.
February 13, 2008
Beautiful, high-quality color plates of von Gloeden's late-1890s photography. Nearly all photographs were taken in the lovely ancient Sicilian town of Taormina, all of landscapes and young people, and many of young men in either classical poses and settings--lightly clothed or naked.
It's a pity his work isn't better known as some photographs are phenomenal--"Caino" is my personal favorite. I only discovered von Gloeden because that photo is the cover art for the hardcover version of The God in Flight (see my Fiction-Historical shelf for my review). Von Gloeden could easily be a character in a sequel to that book.
The book includes a detailed biography of von Gloeden in the context of his time and interests, which illuminates his decision to emigrate to Sicily and his choices and styles of photography.
It's a pity his work isn't better known as some photographs are phenomenal--"Caino" is my personal favorite. I only discovered von Gloeden because that photo is the cover art for the hardcover version of The God in Flight (see my Fiction-Historical shelf for my review). Von Gloeden could easily be a character in a sequel to that book.
The book includes a detailed biography of von Gloeden in the context of his time and interests, which illuminates his decision to emigrate to Sicily and his choices and styles of photography.
November 27, 2010
Don't judge a book by its cover. To begin with, for the fact that the portrait on the cover was neither shot by Wilhelm von Gloeden (his cousin, Wilhelm von Pluschow, did it) nor has anything to do with TAORMINA, but either with Rome or Naples, where Pluschow lived, as anyone aquainted with Pluschow's work will immediatly recognise.
Ditto for many, if not most, of the pix in this book, which are not by Gloeden and were not shot in Taormina.
This explains the coarse aspect of some of these pictures that some readers may notice: this would be unusual for Gloeden indeed, however these pix are not his, but mostly by Vincenzo Galdi (Pluschow's aide), who ended his career in 1907 after being condemned for obscene photographs. Q.E.D.
In sum, the editors made a total mess, concerning attributions. They decided that if it looks Italian, and it is at least one century old, then it is Gloeden.
Which is nonsense.
This said, the book is a nice object, printed in colours (of course the pix themselves are black and white), oversize, displaying for the first time scores of pictures never seen before. Hence my 4 stars, the mess notwithstanding.
However the book does not deal with Gloeden and Taormina (alone), but rather with different kinds of pictures (from art to softporn) of the male nude from Italy between 1880 and 1920.
If you look for the real thing, I mean Gloeden himself, then go for other editions (there are plenty of them, most of them much cheaper).
But if you are looking for the catalogue of a private collection put together with Italian male nudes between 1880 and 1930, then this book is very very nice, and a bit costly, though.
Ditto for many, if not most, of the pix in this book, which are not by Gloeden and were not shot in Taormina.
This explains the coarse aspect of some of these pictures that some readers may notice: this would be unusual for Gloeden indeed, however these pix are not his, but mostly by Vincenzo Galdi (Pluschow's aide), who ended his career in 1907 after being condemned for obscene photographs. Q.E.D.
In sum, the editors made a total mess, concerning attributions. They decided that if it looks Italian, and it is at least one century old, then it is Gloeden.
Which is nonsense.
This said, the book is a nice object, printed in colours (of course the pix themselves are black and white), oversize, displaying for the first time scores of pictures never seen before. Hence my 4 stars, the mess notwithstanding.
However the book does not deal with Gloeden and Taormina (alone), but rather with different kinds of pictures (from art to softporn) of the male nude from Italy between 1880 and 1920.
If you look for the real thing, I mean Gloeden himself, then go for other editions (there are plenty of them, most of them much cheaper).
But if you are looking for the catalogue of a private collection put together with Italian male nudes between 1880 and 1930, then this book is very very nice, and a bit costly, though.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews