KARLHEINZ WEINBERGER
U.S. Manager, Karlheinz Weinberger Foundation, Bruce Hackney
@Karlheinzweinberger
Karlheinz Weinberger (1921-2006), was a Swiss photographer. His best known work was with youth rebels in Switzerland, becoming extremely influential on the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s fashion world. Though he is known for these intimate rebel photos, however the vast majority of Weinberger's archive contains thousands of male nude portraits.
These images were both deleted by Instagram, even though they were self censored. Apparently the word “penis” is considered obscene.
The Weinberger estate’s U.S. manager is Bruce Hackney. In 2016 Hackney started an Instagram account to promote Weinberger’s work, archive it, and communicate with Weinberger’s fanbase. Like many small businesses this Instagram account has a financial component. Since Weinberger doesn’t have any gallery presence, if someone want to see his works, they go to Instagram.
Hackney takes great issue that photography is distinguished from painting, sculpture and drawing. Nudity is allowed in painting and drawing (though often still flagged). Instagram’s differentiation basically claims that photography is not “art”. Hackney has also had posts removed that do not show nudity and adhere to Instagram’s policies. Recently the Weinberger account was removed in January. Only after many conversations with Instagram did Hackney finally get it re-instated. During these talks instagram pulled out his numerous “violations” of their policy, including posts to Instagram Stories, which are supposed to “disappear”. Instead all data uploaded to Instagram can be kept as examples of a users “violations”. The whole experience screamed “big brother is watching you”.
BELOW: On the left are original Weinberger nudes. In order to post them, Hackney cropped the photos at the genitalia. These works were subsequently deleted from instagram and deemed violations.
IMAGE CAPTION: Top 3 Photos: Zurich circa 1962, 35mm Agfachrome slide | St. Petersinsel, 1964, vintage photograph, 2 x 2 inches | St. Petersinsel, 1964, vintage photograph, 3 x 4 inches. Bottom 2 Nudes: “Zurich” circa middle 1970’s. All Images Copyright by Karlheinz Weinberger Stiftung, Zurich. Courtesy Artist Resources Management, New York