2568 - Homosexuality - LGBTQ - White, Minor. Nude, Barefoot (San Francisco). Gelatin silver print, mounted on cardboard. 1947 / likely a later print made before 1970. Sheet dimensions: 18.2 x 22.5 cm. Outer cardboard: 38.3 x 46 cm.

Homosexuality - LGBTQ - White, Minor. Nude, Barefoot (San Francisco). Gelatin silver print, mounted on cardboard. 1947 / likely a later print made before 1970. Sheet dimensions: 18.2 x 22.5 cm. Outer cardboard: 38.3 x 46 cm. Sensual nude back shot from the pre-Stonewall era by Minor White (1908–1976), who lived in San Francisco between 1946 and 1953, where he taught at the California School of Fine Arts before founding the legendary photography magazine *Aperture* in 1952 together with Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and Nancy Newhall. - The photograph shows a young man lying on his stomach with one leg bent, directing the viewer’s gaze to the bare sole of his foot. - White rarely exhibited his intimate nude photographs of men during his lifetime. At a time when homosexuality was criminalized and socially unacceptable, White developed a more metaphorical style to express his sexual identity without risking professional or legal consequences. With the discretion characteristic of his generation, he noted in his diary: “Those who are perceptive enough to read the meaning at the heart of my photographs will probably be sympathetic enough to forgive me.” - The backing cardboard is slightly discolored; the photograph is in very good condition. #