Photographer and actor Noah Valentyn captured modern young men crying in his series Crying Boys. Set against the rugged backdrop of Muiderslot castle museum, the photographs reveal both their vulnerability and their strength.
Although medieval writings contain many accounts of weeping knights, one of today’s most deeply rooted ideas about masculinity is that men do not cry.
Noah Valentyn (1986) is an actor and photographer. After graduating from the Amsterdam Academy of Theatre and Dance, he played leading and supporting roles in films and television series, including Het Schnitzelparadijs, Gooische Vrouwen and Goede Tijden Slechte Tijden.
From 2008 through 2014, he lived, worked, and studied in New York and Los Angeles. Among other things, he interned at the studio of James Bidgood, who inspired well-known photographers such as Pierre & Gilles and David LaChapelle. Since 2015, he has lived in Amsterdam, where he runs his own photography and film studio with Alain-Celest de Buck.
A copy of the familiar painting of a crying boy by Italian artist Giovanni Bragolin. hangs in Valentyn’s dining room. As an only child, he feels a brotherly connection to the boy. The painting is a companion he can look at during difficult times. Eventually, it is moved to the attic.
Years later, he comes across one of the paintings from his childhood at a flea market. The memories return and become the basis for a photo series about the vulnerability of modern men.
Crying Boys - Noah Valentyn
Rijksmuseum Muiderslot
September 10 through November 14, 2021
