Art and Homosexuality: A History of Ideas

by Christopher Reed

This bold, globe-spanning survey is the first book to thoroughly explore the radical, long-standing interdependence between art and homosexuality. It draws examples from the full range of the Western tradition, including classical, Renaissance, and contemporary art, with special focus on the modern era. It was in the modern period, when arguments about homosexuality and the avant-garde were especially public, that our current conception of the artist and the homosexual began to take shape, and almost as quickly to overlap. Not a chronology of gay or lesbian artists, the book is a fascinating and sophisticated account of the ways two conspicuous identities have fundamentally informed one another. Art and Homosexuality discusses many of modernism's canonical figures--painters like Courbet, Picasso, and Pollock; writers like Whitman and Stein--and issues, such as the rise of abstraction, the avant-garde's relationship to its patrons and the political exploitation of art. It shows
that many of the core ideas that define modernism are nearly indecipherable without an understanding of the paired identities of artist and homosexual. Illustrated with over 175 b/w and color images that range from high to popular culture and from Ancient Greece to contemporary America, Art and Homosexuality punctures the platitudes surrounding discussions of both aesthetics and sexual identity and takes our understanding of each in stimulating new directions.

Genres: Art, Queer, Nonfiction, Art History, LGBT, Queer Studies, History

285 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[JJ]

YES, I jokingly say that every important historical figure was a little fruity and YES, this is the book I'm going to use that proves me right (kind of)

A unique account, if not an obvious choice for one in hindsight, of two inseparable histories and their compounded impacts that has already become one of the most important things I’ve read. A history of psychological theory and politics and social outrage and how it’s all come to be expressed visually, that was just as enlightening on the concept of identity as it was on art history.

and you’ll never guess what capitalism ruined this time !

The part that will stick with me though (apart from https://images.app.goo.gl/YDk8ABp9mpU...) is the lesson of just how artificial and unstable identity and individualism as concepts are. Especially in the vague context of attributing behavior of sexuality to a definition of self. There we (Society™️) go again with our addiction to those binaries. That subtitle should really be just bolded underlined italicized

As for the book itself, it made a deliberate point to start with a broad perspective to prove how slippery the definition of both art and sexuality are to nail down. By its end though, it fizzled into an almost entirely American-centrism, much less western-centrism, though it may be fair to the extent the analysis dealt with the development of sexuality informed identity. The last chapter itself lost a lot of the concise focus that made the rest such a good read.

All else aside I will be very annoying about my performance of identity from now on, and you all have Mr Reed to thank for that

[carelessdestiny]

I was utterly engrossed from the first page. His prose is elegant and clear and his analysis of the ideas that motivate artists is intelligent and believable. Even when I didn't agree with him (things like the "AIDS quilt") I loved reading it.

[Albert]

I am really enjoying this-- going through global art history, but recent Western art history in particular, actively engaging the idea that "art and homosexuality" is a redundant phrase.

[Andrew Austin]

This is really a (VERY) brief introduction to the subject of art and homosexuality. I wish there were a more in depth - and engaging - version of this book. I imagine it would be a couple volumes. More pictures would have been nice - but that’s what the internet is for, I guess. I saw this book at a museum somewhere at some point - probably 15 years ago. Finally got around to reading it.

[Frejola]

This was a genuinely illuminating read.I learned lots and made connections I'd never considered before. Excellent, excellent.

[Mason]

Though less compelling near the end, Reed's skillful deconstruction of the relationship between artist and homosexual is riveting, especially in his analysis of the origins of the two titular categories.

[Dylan]

Man, this thing is slow. So hard to get through, but I'm trying.

[Aileen]

mind-boggling and interesting.. light-reading reference.

[Tanya Wischerath]

This book is essential, beautifully written, engaging and profoundly insightful. Im reading it again and I just finished it.