Wilhelm van Gloeden Photographies

December 6, 2019 to January 15, 2020  Ex Chiesa del Carmine, Taormina

The Exhibition „Von Gloeden, Taormina e il Mediteranneo“ shows a series of works by the renowned photographer Wilhelm van Gloeden (1856 – 1931)

Von Gloeden was a German photographer who worked mainly in Italy. After having studied art history and painting in Germany, a severe lung disease led him to move to Taormina in Sicily in 1876 because of the climate. Von Gloeden died in Taormina in the year 1931. He was buried at the non-catholic part of Taormina cemetery.

Van Gloeden is mostly known for his nude studies of Sicilian boys, which he showed in elegant pose in antique settings. Today von Gloeden is mainly known for his nudes, but in his lifetime he was also famous for his landscape photography that helped popularize tourism to Italy. He also portraited the rural people of the hinterland of Taormina in their traditional costumes and made a photo reportage after the devastating earthquake of Messina in 1908.

The exhibition project was born from the discovery of a collection of more than twenty original prints by Wilhelm von Gloeden, first belonging to the gallerist Lucio Amelio and then to the artist Bruno Di Bello. The collection, being complete in its themes, can tell the whole artistic path of von Gloeden. In addition to the nudes of the early years, there are some famous shots taken in von Gloeden’s Taormina residence, some of the most famous photographs taken in other spaces, which he equipped for what was, at the time, a pioneering practice: reconstructions of the myth of Arcadia prepared by von Gloeden at the Greek Theatre in Taormina or in gardens and among trees, in open spaces, in nature, between fountains and cliffs, often with extraordinary views of the coast of Taormina. There are also landscapes of other places in Sicily and the Mediterranean, including some images of Syracuse and Segesta, but also photographies taken during a stay in Tunis, documented by rare views of Koubba and Sidi Marhes.

The opening of the exhibition is on December 5, 2019 at 18.00 h at the Ex Chiesa del Carmine, Taormina. It will last until January 15, 2020

Opening hours: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 10.00 to 14.00 and 15.00 to 19.00 – Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10.00 to 19.00, Admission free