{gay} – Page 102 – { feuilleton }

Exercises for boys

Physical Fitness Exercises For Boys (1960).

One of these things is full of gay sex, the other is a William Burroughs novel… A juxtaposition that amused me here. LPCover Lover has a slightly better copy of the record sleeve.

Incidentally, I’ve been working on some artwork inspired by The Wild Boys. Not achieved much so far since there’s been too many other things going on but it’s turned into a nice backburner project. More about that at a later date.

The Wild Boys, UK paperback (1973).

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Looking for the Wild Boys

The art of Xiyadie

Some vivid homoerotic paper cuttings by Xiyadie, a Beijing artist whose pseudonym means “Siberian Butterfly”. Some of the figures in these pieces are suitably butterfly winged but their appealing qualities make no difference to the Chinese authorities where they’re disallowed public exhibition. They are, however, currently on display at the Flazh!Alley Art Studio, San Pedro, California until 14th July. The Advocate interviewed Xiyadie in April and has a selection of his work. Via Homobilia.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The gay artists archive

Arrow by The Irrepressibles

I’ve kept wondering when we’d hear more from The Irrepressibles following the release of their wonderful Mirror Mirror album. Here at last is a new song, Arrow, from a forthcoming album, Nude. Lyrical allusions to Saint Sebastian accompany two naked guys wrestling until…well, go and see. (Thanks to Thom for the tip!)

Directed & choreographed by Jamie McDermott
Camera Person: Kate Perring
Filmed at Studio 7, Alston Works, London.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Los Bikers by Dënver
• The Lady Is Dead and The Irrepressibles

Weekend links 111

The Fox (1968). Design by Bill Gold, art by Leo & Diane Dillon.

Mark Rydell’s The Fox may be regarded unfavourably now for its retrograde idea of a lesbian relationship but that’s still a great poster by the Dillons. Equally retrograde (well it was 1957) is Anders als du und ich, a film about wayward German youth directed by ex-Nazi propagandist Veit Harlan:

Klaus is a young man in post-war Berlin. He is drawn to his friend Manfred and, under the encouragement of their acquaintance, Dr. Winkler, explores the underground world of gay clubs and electronic music. His family begins to learn of his other life and do everything they can to set him straight.

A saving grace is the conspicuous deployment of Oskar Sala’s Trautonium. They’re deviants—of course they like weird electronic music! Sala’s instrument was his own invention which means it has a unique pre-Moog sound, famously used by Alfred Hitchcock in the score for The Birds. YouTube has a collection of the electronica moments from Anders als du und ich. Wait for the wrestling scene…

• Netherwood: Last Resort of Aleister Crowley by A Gentleman of Hastings. Related: Jimmy Page’s Lucifer Rising sessions part 1 and part 2.

• “This coming 16 June, [BBC] Radio 4 will be a wall-to-wall Joycefest, kicking off at 9am and running until midnight.”

• A World Where Architecture is the Driving Force Behind Society, Core77 on the Cités Obscures of François Schuiten.

• At The Hooded Utilitarian an examination of the thorny problem of adapting Lovecraft for the comics medium.

• Plates from La Plante et ses Applications Ornementales (1897–1900) by Eugene Grasset.

• Coilhouse found a rough copy of Todd Haynes’ Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story.

• Three Quick Ways to Introduce Yourself to the Work of Harlan Ellison.

• Daniel Buren’s Monumenta 2012 at the Grand Palais, Paris.

• Our Sorrows, a new video from Julia Holter.

• I, Cyclops: Monocularity in a 3-D World.

• JG Ballard: The Concordance.

• RIP Pete Cosey.

• Pete Cosey with Miles Davis et al, November 1973: Ife | Turnaroundphrase

Jacques d’Adelswärd-Fersen revisited

Messes Noires. Lord Lyllian (1905).

An email earlier this week from French bookdealer Chez les libraires associés contained a link to an online catalogue of books by or related to that disreputable Uranian Jacques d’Adelswärd-Fersen, the subject of this earlier post. The catalogue describes the poet as “l’Oscar Wilde français” which isn’t strictly true since Wilde had (and has) a far higher literary reputation. And when it came to homosexual scandal Fersen didn’t suffer anything like Wilde’s appalling treatment, he simply decamped (so to speak) to Capri with his boyfriend, Nino Cesarini. The latter is the subject of another document linked in the same email, Nino et son jumeau, an investigation (in French) concerning “Faces and legends of the friend of Jacques d’Adelswärd-Fersen. What is known of the appearance of Nino, are there pictures of him by von Gloeden, von Plüschow or Vincenzo Galdi?” A number of the pictures in question show Nino and others in various states of undress so those wishing to view the pages will need to be registered at Issuu first.

A couple more covers from the catalogue follow. All these publications are rare and correspondingly expensive but I still find it fascinating seeing any of this material at all when it’s been proscribed and ignored for so long. While we’re on the subject, I’ve only just noticed that Fersen’s Le Baiser de Narcisse (with illustrations by Ernest Brisset) can be viewed complete at Gallica.

Notre-Dame des mers mortes (1902).

Paradinya (1911).

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The gay artists archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Le Baiser de Narcisse