Featuring the work of Berlin along with images by Tom of Finland, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Andy Warhol, Peter Berlin: Icon pays tribute to the man who in the early to mid-1970s revolutionized the landscape of gay male eroticism and became an international sensation. His self-portrait photography graced the covers of gay magazines, and defined a look that re-imagined a new masculinity among gay men and an emerging gay male culture.
Peter Berlin was a self-created. Tailoring his own clothes to accentuate an already naturally defined physique, every part of his anatomy became showcased. Cruising was his career, and with a background in photography, Peter embarked on recording thousands of self-portraits. The book is edited by Michael Bullock is a writer and publisher of BUTT, Pin-Up, Fantastic Man, Gentlewoman, and Apartamento magazines.
About the Author
Artist, model, filmmaker, and gay sex symbol Peter Berlin, née Armin Hagen Freiherr von Hoyningen Huene (b. 1942), authored some of the most legendary erotic imagery of his day. What began as studies in self-portraiture and fashion design in the name of cruising by the early 1970s turned into a robust artistic practice that included the creation of two films — Nights in Black Leather (1973) and That Boy (1974) — and innumerable photographs, paintings, and illustrations.
Industry Reviews
He was a sex symbol, photographer, pornographer, clothing designer, illustrator and more...But long before being shot by the who's-who of the 1970s queer art scene, Berlin simply took matters into his own hands: his images were, as we'd say today, selfies--creating an entirely new, joyfully narcissistic approach to self-portraiture.--Emily Gosling "Elephant "
Flipping through Icon, Artist, Photosexual is like toggling the controller of a Playstation 2 with a fistful of lube. Berlin is a Sims-esque character that crash-landed in Area 51. The bulges are out of this world, the fashion extraterrestrial, and the phallic imagery a rocket ship that blasts off through Berlin's body and body of work.--Mitchell Nugent "Interview "
Upon moving to San Francisco in his early 30s, his super-powered libido, spectacular narcissism, and a lust for exhibitionism came together in a perfect storm to create Peter Berlin. From then on, he lived his life as his sexual alter-ego, and he took on his new identity with militant dedication.--Michael Bullock "Apartamento "
Berlin's true crisis of faith: the reality that the world never embraced his utopic idea of sexual freedom, cruising, and sex. He sees the world as being robbed of pleasure by politics, jobs, and responsibilities.--Brock Coylar "New York Magazine: The Cut "
During the 1970s, Peter Berlin became a sex symbol of gay culture, a real-life Tom of Finland who photographed himself in parks, train stations and other cruising grounds.--Ben Widdicombe "New York Times: Style "
[I]n the hazy, carefree dawn of the 70s, he pioneered the self-mythologising culture we all live in today. Before social media, before selfies, he was transforming himself in front of his camera into the star of his own fantasy narrative - and he did it all dressed in handcrafted weapons of mass arousal.--Ted Stansfield "Another Man "
[Peter Berlin] has made his name as a notorious gay sex icon of the 1970s and 1980s - a man recognised for his self-portraiture, film and erotica that defies all norms of sexuality ...What he's left behind is a legacy - an incredible archive of imagery that depicts the history and life of a young male navigating through his identity.--Ayla Angelos "It's Nice That "
Against the sotto voce background of current LGBTQ voices... comes this mostly forgotten statement of gay male libido, a violently subversive gesture. Promiscuity, even public sex, for the sake of sex alone, is currently the "dirty" unmentioned secret of today's activists who continue their efforts to transform gay liberation into gay assimilation.--Bruce Benderson "GAYLETTER "
For Berlin, photography was as pure and simple as sex: an act of freedom and an expression of self.--Sara Rosen "Document Journal "
Berlin's cultural contributions were so many decades ahead of his time and so unique--not fitting cleanly into either the world of art or the world of pornography--that understanding their relevance and impact requires the invention of a new terminology. I propose the word photosexuality and aim to make the case that Berlin was the first acclaimed male photosexual and the leading pioneer of its practice.--Michael Bullock "Aperture "
A new book chronicles the life and work of the groundbreaking photographer and gay icon.--Kyle Munzenrieder "W Magazine "
