In a museum in Geneva, Hugh Nene and her husband, Neil Treadwell, pose in front of their collection of photographs of men in love, including one taken circa 1900, in which two men hold a sign that reads, “We are not married, but willing to be.”
“We couldn’t stop thinking about what was going through their heads at the time,” comments Nini who, with Treadwell, has been collecting photos of men in love for more than two decades.
P3 published some of these photos in 2020, when the American couple released Lovinga book that contains hundreds of photos and images illustrating manifestations of love between men, taken between the fifties and fifties of the last century, and the identity of the vast majority of men, some of whom can be seen embracing, kissing, or resting in bed, is still unknown.
Part of the collection is on display for the first time at Geneva’s Musee Rath, which hosts temporary exhibitions of the Musee d’Art et d’Histoire.
Nene and Treadwell first discovered the photographs at flea markets and family archives, and later on the Internet and at auctions.
“I think they wanted to have something to remember themselves,” Treadwell said of the people pictured, who included several military men. “Many of the photos were pristine, so you knew they were hidden somewhere, stashed away in a book or a drawer.”
The images, which were taken at a time when male partnerships were often illegal, come from countries such as the United States and Germany. Except for those taken at photo booths, the people who took them are unknown.
But how was the boundary between friendship and love determined in the images? They noted that “collecting this type of imagery is not a simple or objective process”. “A hundred years ago, a tender embrace between two friends was not uncommon.” In some cases love may be romantic, but in others it may not be. However, the collectors ensure that only the most romantic are chosen for the merger Loving. “There is an unmistakable expression in the eyes of two people when they are in love. This is something that cannot be recreated, that cannot be manufactured.”
“What we discovered through this group is that, just like today, these men and husbands had friends, allies and family members who supported them,” Nene said.
