In Between 1890 and 1920 the photographing of men in intimate poses was a convention in American Studio Portraits that is explained quite well in this months Art In America . I do not mean erotic photography but fully clothed men with there arms around each other , or on each others thighs or sitting on one anothers laps. Today they look Sweetly Queer , like a piece of found history. But they are more cryptic then that. Aside from the obvious cowpoke on the frontier troubles with cementing core identity after the fact (no woman , you get it where you can) the fact is that men seemed to be more affectionate physically. It seems before Gay became a sexual identity men touched . No one had any suspicions that they may be sexual implications. Living in a Patriarchy where woman were given servile or different positions Men and Woman often had there separate camps . These photographs are cryptic , they seem to live in a place that used to exist between merely friends and lovers .

The other thing the article said is that these photographs are being horded by rural gays. They are found in attics and flea markets and out of the way spaces . Thye are being collected by people who find one of them by acident andd it becomes an act of belief to find all of them .