More than 20 years ago, Hugh Nini and his partner Neal Treadwell were rummaging through an antique store in Dallas, Texas, when they came across a 1920s photo of a young male couple in which they were sure they had seen clandestine love. Struck by the risk that the couple photographed had taken by showing themselves to be physically entwined, in everyday clothes in an American suburb, Nini and Treadwell saw each other again.
Their collection of images of men in love now includes over 4,000 photographs from around 1850 to 1950, covering events like the Civil War, both World Wars and the Great Depression, and sourced from around the world. A selection has been published in a book, Loving: Photographic History of Men in Love, 1850s-1950sin 2020. Review it in rolling stoneJerry Portwood said it was “magnificent” and called it “a promise we keep to those forgotten men, acknowledging their dedication, who loved despite all odds”.
Portwood also hoped the book would become a museum exhibit, and at the Rath Museum in Geneva (the temporary exhibition space of the Museum of Art and History) he now has his wish with the exhibition, “Love: the Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell collection.” Zurich artist Walter Pfeiffer helped organize the exhibition from a selection proposed by Nini and Treadwell. The show came following museum director Marc-Olivier Wahler’s meeting with the book’s publishers in 2019.
Photograph, undated, with a note: “Edward and his buddy”. Courtesy of the Nini-Treadwell collection © Éditions Loving by 5 Continents
The photos and subjects are anonymous, and the men pose like heterosexual couples: in bed, on a boat, in a photo booth, or even simulating a wedding. They include workers, businessmen, students and the military.
And they have mostly remained anonymous despite exposure in the book, which was released simultaneously in multiple languages around the world.
“Amazingly, no one contacted us to say they were related to someone in our book,” the collectors said. in an interview at the museum. “However, people who have our book have sent us photos of their loved ones that they think could be part of our next book.”
There is a couple that has been identified, according to collectors.
“A professor from Vienna, and others, contacted us to say that the couple on pages 210/211 are actually Rupert Brook, a famous poet, and Duncan Grant, a famous artist, both from the UK” , they said. “If you look at photos of these two men from the early 1900s, they are more than alike. They match.”
“A lingering philosophical question is, ‘If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?'” the collectors asked in their book. “The correct answer is yes or no. If these couples loved each other and commemorated their love with a photo, but no one else saw it, did their love exist or matter? This book is filled with fallen trees whose sound, though delayed, is now heard for the first time.
See more photos from the show below.
Photograph, 1951, with a note: “1951”, “Davis & JC” Courtesy of the Nini-Treadwell collection © Loving by 5 Continents Editions
Photograph, United States, undated. Courtesy of Nini-Treadwell Collection © Loving by 5 Continents Editions.
Photograph (nd). Courtesy of the Nini-Treadwell Collection. © Magnet Continent Editions.
Photograph, United States, undated. Courtesy of Nini-Treadwell Collection © Loving by 5 Continents Editions.
“Loving: the Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell Collection” is on view at the Rath Museum, Rue Charles-Galland 2, 1206 Geneva, until September 24.
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