Publication and Reception of Norbert Przybilla’s "Schwule Männer" Series

In the 1980s photography was not yet established in institutions, and the art of queer photographers was even less known to the general public.[7] Norbert Przybilla was able to exhibit his first comprehensive photo series Zwischenbilder—Materie in Bewegung (Intermediate Images—Material in Movement, 1982–85) in galleries and art fairs, and we know from his estate papers that he was interested in showing the series at international exhibition centers. He was less outgoing with his series Schwule Männer (Gay Men). It was first presented in spaces run by gay movements, such as the Regensburg Gay and Lesbian Initiative (RESI) and the Munich bookshop Sodom, and at the Pathos-Transport Theater in Munich that was dedicated to social diversity. These institutions are located between subculture and overall society. The extent to which the gay movement should enter public space was a matter of contention within the movement and its institutions.[8]

Founded in 1980, the bookshop Sodom was tailored to the interests of homosexual readers with its selection of newspapers, novels, art books, and photography books, as well as holding political events and mounting exhibitions of queer artists.[9] In the 1980s it was an important source of entertainment and information for the community.[10] The bookshop Max&Milian in Munich had a similar concept and, starting in 1989, showed works by famous photographers such as Duane Michals (*1932) and Rotimi Fani-Kayode (1955–1989). However, lack of visibility and low sales caused the bookshop to stop organizing exhibitions in 1992. “The abundance of gay culture in Munich makes any further attempt redundant,” the owners remarked sarcastically about their decision. “The tolerance of people in Munich is infinite.”[11]

In 1988 Przybilla was represented in the exhibition Bayerische Kunst unserer Tage (Contemporary Bavarian Art) in Cario. This exhibition was organized by the Association of Professional Visual Artists in Munich and Upper Bavaria (BBK), whose jury included photographers and curators Klaus von Gaffron (1946–2017), Verena von Gagern (b. 1946) und Harald Rumpf (b. 1955). With over 150 artists participating, it was only possible to exhibit one work by each artist; Przybilla showed Markus from the Schwule Männer series, which was illustrated in the catalog. This is noteworthy, because the exhibition cooperative was under the patronage of Franz Josef Strauss (1915–1988), the minister president of Bavaria, who was known for his homophobic comments.[14] The unmistakably homoerotic context of the sensual image seems to have been avoided by the editors: the title of Przybilla’s series was not mentioned, nor was there any mention of the exhibitions that had included the series.

Pictures by Przybilla also appear in the city guide München von hinten: Das schwule Stadtbuch (Munich from Behind: The Gay Guide). Between 1981 and 2014, this city guidebook series was published by the Berlin-based Bruno Gmünder Verlag and regularly reissued in updated editions. These guides, which contained information about local communities, bars, clubs, and museums for cities such as Berlin, Munich, and Frankfurt am Main, are similar to the broader Spartacus: International Gay Guide series. For the Munich edition for 1987–88, which includes an ad for Przybilla’s photographic studio,[19] he was commissioned to provide promotional images for the content, including photographs taken at places such as meeting places for nudists in Munich and Oktoberfest. Works from the Schwule Männer series are also interspersed in the introduction. The fact that they are purely illustrative and not specifically discussed in the text of the introduction proves that Przybilla’s pictures were capable of conveying a wide range of possible queer identities.