How gay artists exprsed forbidn sire | CNN

Contents:

• WHAT TOOK TO CREATE THE WORLD’S FIRST GAY ART MM
• HIDN PLA SIGHT: HOW GAY ARTISTS EXPRSED FORBIDN SIRE

WHAT TOOK TO CREATE THE WORLD’S FIRST GAY ART MM

Barbara Kat'Only Tony': Portras by Gilbert LewisPennsylvania Amy of Fe Arts, PhilalphiaPhilalphia artist Gilbert Lewis is a longstandg fixture of the cy’s art muny, but his sensive portraure work has th far been unrexposed at lol mms, spe s importance the natnal lexin of gay male art. The First Homosexuals: Global Depictns of a New Inty, 1869-1930 tak as s startg pot the year 1869, when the word “homosexual” was first ed Europe, guratg the ia of same-sex sire as the basis for a new inty tegory. This groundbreakg exhibn offers the first multi-medium survey of the very first self-nscly queer art, explorg what the “first homosexuals” unrstood themselv to be, how domant culture, turn, unrstood them, and how the s of reprentatn they employed offer prevly unknown glimps to the social and cultural meangs of same-sex sire.

The First Homosexuals is beg anized two parts, due to COVID-related lays, wh part one openg on October 1 wh approximately 100 works, and on view only at Wrightwood 659. Three years om now, 2025, 250 masterworks will be gathered at Wrightwood 659 for part two of The First Homosexuals an exhibn which will travel ternatnally and be acpanied by a prehensive talogue. The first full-time Amerin amic to be tenured what was then lled Lbian and Gay Studi, Katz was also the Foundg Director of Yale Universy’s Larry Kramer Iniative Lbian and Gay Studi, the first the Ivy League.

An activist amic, he also found the Queer Cc for Art of the College Art Associatn, the profsnal associatn of artists and art historians, -found Queer Natn, San Francis, and found the Gay and Lbian Town Meetg, the anizatn that succsfully lobbied for queer anti-discrimatn statut the cy of Chigo the 1980s. The First Homosexuals: Global Depictns of a New Inty, 1869 – 1930 is the first exhibn to display Carlyle’s artwork the ntext of same-sex sire and relatnships.

HIDN PLA SIGHT: HOW GAY ARTISTS EXPRSED FORBIDN SIRE

” Many of Wegener’s imag pict female characters erotic or homosocial environments— the se of Ven and Amor, feme and androgyno figur populate an idyllic allegoril scene. Somov also adopted the rabow as a reference to homosexualy via the story of the biblil flood, which the rabow reprents absolutn and acceptance after dive punishment for rporeal s. The image’s posn alternately expos the male body and ref intifitn, perhaps mentg on the alternately public and private nature of homosexualy.

Called “The First Homosexuals, ” the show is about a time when the art world released a flood of new reprentatns of same-sex sire. “You’re gog to see work that looks a lot like our ntemporary versn of queerns, which is to say that clus what we would the old days ll ‘gay and lbian art.

“In 1869 the word ‘homosexual’ was actually ed, and was the first term to sentialize an inty, to make a person who was cled to same-sex acts have a ep, terr re that was distctly different om heterosexuals, ” Katz said. “One of the thgs I’ve been tryg to do all my exhibns is to unrsre that the ia of ‘gay and lbian’ is a bary nstct, is of a historilly limed nature, ” Katz said. The "Queer Threads" exhibn, which ran early 2014, examed the diversy of gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr, and queer experienc.