The Towleroad blog has a great post that reviss New York’s first rerd anti-gay raid on the Ariston Baths Manhattan 1903. And though I was never an aficnado of the Bathhoe scene, the gay history buff me cid to do some rearch and even I was a b surprised by the strong
Contents:
HOW PTOWN GOT SO GAY, GAY, GAY
Ptown wasn't always gay, but was pretty wild back the day. So wild, the rints weren't allowed to own land for over 150 years. * charles demuth gay *
Demuth was an openly gay artist based Lanster, Pennsylvania (USA).
A PEEK UNR THE TOWEL: INSI THE 500-YEAR HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO
November 11, 1883 - Charl Demuth: "Patgs mt be looked at and looked at and looked at. No wrg, no talkg, no sgg, no dancg will expla them." Demuth was one of the first Amerin artists to be open wh his sexual inty through hont, posive exprsns of gay sire. He was a major figure * charles demuth gay *
Yet, Demuth also pated more homoerotic works of art set bathho and other accepted homosocial environments. ” In Speakg for Vice: Homosexualy the Art of Charl Demuth, Marsn Hartley and the First Amerin Avante-gar, 98-100. He also picted early 20th century Amerin gay subculture evotive, private waterlor patgs.
The Parisian muny was much more acceptg of Demuth’s homosexualy, and a number of his patgs, like Turkish Bath wh Self Portra, which were not tend for public view, pict the sexual subculture of postwar Paris and the evolvg gay subculture New York. ” In Speakg for Vice: Homosexualy the Art of Charl Demuth, Marsn Hartley and the First Amerin Avante-gar, 98-100. Unlike O'Keeffe, he stripped them down to precise geometric shap and bold lors, imposg form and specificy on the chaos of the 's cheeky and evotive (and private) patgs of early-20th-century Amerin gay subculture are among s few survivg visual rerds, and his jazz portras celebrate the power and dynamism of the Harlem Renaissance.
Waterlor and Graphe on Paper - Demuth Mm, Lanster, Pennsylvania 1918Turkish Bath wh Self PortraThis waterlor sketch offers an illumatg pictn of the gay subculture postwar New York. Demuth was likely open about his sexualy wh his iends, and ankly picted the evolvg, unrground gay scen New York and Paris. Sce his ath, Demuth's waterlors of early-20th-century gay life have proven to be sourc of spiratn and fellowship to later generatns of Amerin artists, cludg Andy Warhol, another Pennsylvania native.