'Not married but willing to be!': men in love from the 1850s in pictures | Art and design

Posted by Martina Birk on Wednesday, August 28, 2024

'Not married but willing to be!': men in love from the 1850s – in pictures

A new book collects photographs of male romance over the course of a century – with many images taken secretively so the lovers didn’t get caught

@mlestone Main image: Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love 1850s–1950s.

Fri 16 Oct 2020 06.00 BST Last modified on Wed 19 Oct 2022 15.10 BST

  • Photobooth: Undated, 32 x 27mm. Provenance: US

    Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love 1850s–1950s is a unique collection of photographs depicting romantic love between men in various contexts. The book is published by 5 Continents. All pictures courtesy of the Nini-Treadwell Collection.

  • Tintype: Undated, 86 x 62mm. Provenance: US

    The technologies used include ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, glass negatives, tintypes, cabinet cards, photo postcards, photo strips, photomatics and snapshots. The book covers more than 100 years of social history, reflecting changing fashions, hairstyles and societal norms, as well as the development of photography.

  • Cabinet card: Circa 1880. Provenance: US. Note on back: “McInturff, Steve Book, Delaware O.”

    The range of individuals shown is extensive, covering 19th-century working-class men, fashionably dressed businessmen, university students, and soldiers and sailors of all ages - spanning the time between the US civil war and the second world war, and into the 1950s.

  • Photo strip: Circa 1900, 35 × 27mm. Provenance: US

    Most of these images were taken when male partnerships were illegal. Approximately 120 years ago, this couple held opposite edges of a sign. They posed for that photo in a very different world than the one we live in today.

  • Postcard: Circa 1900, 85 × 110mm. Provenance: US

    Here are two well-dressed young men sharing an umbrella. One is placing a wedding ring on the other’s finger. In most cases, the couples are the sole subjects of the image, but there are many instances in which there are other characters present, including the photographer. In the absence of such support, one category that emerged early was that of the photo-booth photo. With the anonymity of the photobooth, a couple could act as the subject, photographer and developer, therefore reducing the risk.

  • Circa 1900, 65 × 58mm. Note on back: “In the mirror.”

    This couple placed a camera on a dresser in front of a mirror and photographed their reflection. This image could be the first ‘selfie’ of a romantic male couple.

  • Postcard: Circa 1900, 140 × 89mm. Provenance: US

    Authors Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell have spent over 20 years meticulously accumulating old photographs that bear witness to romantic love between men.

  • Postcard: 1910, 88 × 139mm. Provenance: US. Note: “Cowboy Dance ‘Stag’, October 1910”

  • Photograph: Undated 70 × 91mm

    Collecting photos like these isn’t simple. Social norms regarding what is an acceptable display of affection between two male friends have changed over time. One hundred years ago, an affectionate embrace between male friends was not uncommon. Friendship photos like that are often presented by sellers as being of a ‘couple’.

  • Photograph: Undated 115 × 72mm

    Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell: ‘Our collection began when we came across an old photo that we thought was one of a kind. The subjects in that vintage photo were two young men, embracing and gazing at one another - clearly in love. We looked at that photo, and it reflected us back to ourselves. We were intrigued that a photo like that could have survived into the 21st century. Who were they? And how did their snapshot end up at an antique shop in Dallas, Texas?’

  • Photograph: Undated, 115 × 72mm.

    ‘In the beginning, we acquired photos because they spoke to us personally. Soon, we were actively looking for them. As we came across more and more, there was a sense that we were involved in some kind of rescue mission. These photos had stood the test of time for somewhere between 70 and 170 years, and we were now the custodians of these unlikely survivors of a world that is only just beginning to catch up.’

  • Photograph: Undated 63 x 89mm

    The images were found at flea markets, in shoe boxes, estate sales, family archives, old suitcases and at online auctions. Their collection now includes photos from all over the world: Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Japan, Latvia, the UK and the US.

  • 1945, 57 × 81mm. Provenance: US/photo taken in Austria

    ‘In 1945, these two soldiers had hiked up into the Austrian Alps and a friend took their picture as they embraced in the snow. One soldier kept these snapshots hidden in a shoebox until the early 1990s when he handed them to a relative, along with the ring that he was wearing in the Alps photo, with the request: “Please keep these safe for me.” According to the relative, the soldier, nearing the end of his life, wanted to preserve the one thing that meant more to him than anything else. He passed away two years later.’

  • Photograph: Undated 70 × 117mm

    ‘Patterns emerged. We began to notice that the organic poses from one couple were an exact mimic of another, such as the way they held hands, embraced, or just leaned into one another.’

  • Photograph: 121 x 83mm. Note on back: “1951” “Davis & JC”

    ‘The repeated and identifiable poses can be seen again and again. Identical poses from two, three, 10 couples could span 70 years or more and be represented by several countries, over different decades, even in different centuries.’

  • Photograph: Undated 96 × 67mm

    ‘The subjects of Loving would not have seen each other’s images and copied them for themselves. The mirror images of their poses arose organically.’

  • 1953, 89 × 137mm. Provenance: Croatia.

    ‘In our albums, where we have lovingly homed our photos, one can see pages of 10, 15, 20 photos, spanning decades and countries, with identical compositions. They couldn’t have known about each other. Their expressions of love - so identical, so similarly expressive - could only have emerged from their common humanity.’

  • Photograph: Undated 179 × 130mm. Provenance: US

    There are over 300 images in this volume. They point to the innumerable transformations that took place between the 19th and the 20th centuries.

  • Undated 70 × 97mm. Note on back: “ice cream is good on a hot day, Smith & Wade still in love?”

    The book is being released in celebration of LGBTQ History Month in the US.

  • Undated, 83 × 108mm. Provenance: US. Note on back: “Rubenstein and Whiskers, AHK”

    Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell: ‘Our collection reveals to the world, and even to us, that feelings of love, attachment or longing between two people are the same, regardless of the gender make-up of the couple.’
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