Throughout the ages human beings have conjured up all manners
of unique, ideal worlds where they feel they originated and
to where they long to return. These dream worlds were assigned
names such as Paradise, Elysium, Mount Olympus, Heaven or
the lost Arcadia. It was a process whereby blissful happiness,
human feelings and yearnings were transported to another plane
and for the most part to a remote past.
The form this paradise would take was influenced by two opposing
conceptions: by the wide variety of mythical creations in
Antiquity and by the Judao-Christian depiction of the Garden
of Eden. The lost paradise of Adam and Eve predicated the
Christian concept of a world divided into Good and Evil, into
Heaven and Hell. Since its downfall Antiquity had provided
the perfect screen for the projection of the most differing
views, ideas and desires. The crucial difference lay in the
attitude taken towards sexuality, hetero - as well as homosexuality.
In Christianity it was demonized and given as the reason for
the banishment from Paradise. In Antiquity it had a positive
place in the world of the gods, in its myths and mysteries,
in its philosophy and in life itself.
In the Middle Ages the rediscovery of the classical texts
and artworks - and even more so during the Renaissance - would
lead to the adoption of depictions of life similar to the
way it was viewed in Antiquity. This allowed for an increasingly
freer attitude towards homosexuality. At the same time contemporary
locations associated with love and uninhibited behavior such
as bath houses and bathing areas - even prostitution in the
cities - could be stylized into places of classical freedom.
Consequently in the 18th. century we have the French islands
of love and their temples of love. Italy was heralded as a
new paradise. All these flights into exile would also offer
to homosexuals the chance to set out in search of their own
Arcadia.
Visions of paradise were crucial emotional supports in being
able to tolerate an unsatisfactory reality. They had a political
dimension. Imagining positive, alternative worlds could become
a weapon against suppression and persecution, manifestos of
self assertion. Such images of self depiction could be used
to overcome feelings of alienation and rejection.
The exhibition offers a tour through the centuries from 1500
to 1950. Artistic works from the Sternweiler Collection have
been collected into ten categories. Parallel to the development
of the Gay Museum over the past 20 years the Sternweiler Collection
has been built up by the art historian Dr. Andreas Sternweiler
and his parents Anneliese and Dieter B. Sternweiler. The collection
consists of items that surfaced in sales of antiquarian books,
art and at various auctions and which were purchased as safeguards
by the Sternweiler family because budget restrictions prevented
their acquisition by the Gay Museum. These items would otherwise
have been scattered to the four winds. The collector, who
for health reasons has to modify his living arrangements,
would now like to pass the collection on to the safe haven
for which it has been intended. With the support of the Culture
Foundation of the German States and other sponsors the Gay
Museum is endeavoring to acquire the Sternweiler Collection.
Translation by Keith Green |
