Will Burgdorf German 1905-1045
Male Nude, c.1930

£1,250

Silver print
Studio Stamp (verso)
20cm x 11cm (print size) (42cm x 31cm framed)

Will Burgdorf was a studio photographer based in Hanover whose refined approach to portraiture, dance photography, and expressionist figure studies captured the artistic pulse of Weimar-era and early 1930s Germany. After completing his training in Dresden during the 1920s, Burgdorf returned to Hanover, where he established a commercial studio in 1931. He quickly established himself as a sought after portraitist, capturing notable cultural figures.

While much of Burgdorf’s commercial livelihood depended on theatrical and private portraits, his artistic reputation in queer photo history relies heavily on his expressive male nudes and studies of the male body. Burgdorf produced a series of vintage, warm-toned gelatin silver prints depicting young men. These images celebrated the male body through sculpted, expressive poses, strong tonal contrasts, and dramatic studio lighting.

Burgdorf's thriving career was cut short by the Second World War. Conscripted into the German military, he disappeared on the Eastern Front in 1945 and was subsequently reported missing/dead. Although his photo archive was preserved by his family for decades before being dispersed at auction, surviving prints of his male nudes remain sought-after artifacts of Weimar-influenced queer visual culture.