Uneasy Articulations: Magnus Hirschfeld, Art, and Sexual Science in Early Twentieth-Century Germany

This article explores the relationship between sexual science (sexology) and art. It focuses on the Berlin-based physician, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld (1868–1935), one of its leading proponents, whose complex use of reproductions and references to art historical sources, warrant attention. It examines the role of art in Hirschfeld’s clinical questionnaires, the psychosexual artworks of his patients, as well as considering how his engagement with art related to the work of contemporaries, Sigmund Freud, Hans Prinzhorn, and Aby Warburg. It argues that Hirschfeld’s use of art challenged not only the parameters of science in Germany, but also the positions of power and subjection in histories of sexuality.