Elio Luxardo and the Italian Homofascist Photography: Performing Masculinity during the Fascist Era

The work of Italian photographer Elio Luxardo (1908 – 1969) still awaits its rightful place in the history of international photography and visual culture. Yet, in recent years, important studies and exhibitions focusing on him have begun to appear, albeit mainly in Italy. Moreover, it is evident that his complicity with Italian Fascism, including the aggravating detail that in 1944 he was appointed head of photography of the Italian Social Republic flotilla called Xa MAS (Decima Flottiglia MAS), has contributed to the partial censure of his work. As a result, his oeuvre has not been fully embraced or promoted in the post-war era. We believe that, if properly contextualized and without erasing or forgetting the responsibilities he had as a man, a re-consideration of his photography can contribute to a better understanding of the artistic and cultural production of one of the most contradictory and difficult chapters of twentieth-century Italian history. In particular, this chapter will discuss if it is possible to pinpoint a definable homofascist visual lexicon in Luxardo's nude male photographs.