American Arcadia? The Shift of the Homoerotic Gaze in Herbert List’s Work

Abstract

The German photographer Herbert List (1903–75) is well known for his pictures from the Mediterranean, metaphysical still lives and portraits of young men. The latter, in particular, have garnered continuous attention due to their beauty and as examples of homosexual aesthetics in prewar and postwar Europe. A lesser-known body of work are his photographs taken in the Caribbean in 1957, including portraits of Black men. This article sheds light on List’s different homoerotic images by situating them in their art historical as well as local context. First, in an analysis of his Oriental and Orientalist representations of young men in Tunisia, I delineate his expansion of classical Greco-Roman tropes. Second, I contrast these images with List’s portraits of people of colour in the Caribbean and his critique of their historical exploitation and current living situation. In both contexts, List is complicit with as well as in contradiction to the power dynamics of European imperialism, and both follows and digresses from white European visual traditions. This analysis expands current scholarship by taking into consideration the issues of race, class and postcolonialism and their impact on the representation of bodies of colour.