Queer nostalgia: Ernst Hildebrand, homoerotica, and memory in post-war Berlin

Ty Vanover (University of California, Berkeley)

Abstract:

This lecture will focus on the work of the largely unknown German artist Ernst Hildebrand (1906-1991) and his sizable corpus of homoerotic drawings. The majority of these drawings, produced after the Second World War, are based on Hildebrand’s own erotic experiences in the queer subcultural spaces of Weimar Berlin. Taking as its focus the artist’s 1945 series Begegnungen (Encounters), this lecture will explore how memories of and nostalgia for prewar homosociality and modes of being shaped queer artistic production in the postwar period.

Refreshments will follow in the Barber Photography Room from 17:30.