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Art and Queer Culture
Art and Queer Culture is a comprehensive and definitive survey of artworks that have constructed, contested or otherwise responded to alternative forms of sexuality. Not a book exclusively about artists who identify themselves as gay or lesbian, Art and Queer Culture instead traces the shifting possibilities and constraints of sexual identity that have provided visual artists with a rich creative resource over the last 125 years.
424 pages, Hardcover
First published April 2, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 22, 2022
The pictures are rather eclectic in their selection, but I was impressed that the paragraph describing each of them contained the depth needed to understand its importance, and even make me want to research that particular artist in more depth in another source.
However, skip this paperback version and maybe find the earlier edition in hardback that has 150% bigger dimensions that an art book deserves.
There is a 2013 version of this book in a hardcover bigger size. This 2019 version in paperback is only 6.75" x 9" and suffers from this design. The font is ridiculously small (size 6?). As a ~300 page book with heavy glossy pages I had to be gentle that I did not break the spine of this library book. There is art on every page in excellent color, but I'd like to see this in the 9" x 12" hardback design from 2013!
Book is solid 4, but I score this particular version at 3 per this paperback version un-readability. Note: checking Amazon, I do NOT see this 2019 in hardback!
However, skip this paperback version and maybe find the earlier edition in hardback that has 150% bigger dimensions that an art book deserves.
There is a 2013 version of this book in a hardcover bigger size. This 2019 version in paperback is only 6.75" x 9" and suffers from this design. The font is ridiculously small (size 6?). As a ~300 page book with heavy glossy pages I had to be gentle that I did not break the spine of this library book. There is art on every page in excellent color, but I'd like to see this in the 9" x 12" hardback design from 2013!
Book is solid 4, but I score this particular version at 3 per this paperback version un-readability. Note: checking Amazon, I do NOT see this 2019 in hardback!
February 5, 2016
Chronological and comprehensive in scope, the editors document the "queer" expanse of cultural expressions that oppose normative heterosexuality from the 1885 through the present. Included are two survey essays, art illustrations by 250 different artists with commentaries for each, and a number of documents international in scope and written by various leading critics and authors (some complete, some shortened) which speak to the queer culture, again over time. Brief artists and author biographies are also included.
November 24, 2019
What? No half-stars? Alright, I'll bump it up to three.
This is a fairly good reference if you're interested in the history of queer representation in the visual arts; but I had a couple of issues with the book.
The two essays at the beginning (by Richard Meyer, and Catherine Lord) are dense and scholarly. There's a lot to unpack in each paragraph! It seems to me that they aren't written for the casual reader. So, that put me off a bit.
Then there are a couple of pieces shown where the text described something in the image that either wasn't there or wasn't clearly visible (due to the size of the reproduction.)
Other than that, there's a lot of fabulous artwork here which has inspired me to look for more work by those artists.
This is a fairly good reference if you're interested in the history of queer representation in the visual arts; but I had a couple of issues with the book.
The two essays at the beginning (by Richard Meyer, and Catherine Lord) are dense and scholarly. There's a lot to unpack in each paragraph! It seems to me that they aren't written for the casual reader. So, that put me off a bit.
Then there are a couple of pieces shown where the text described something in the image that either wasn't there or wasn't clearly visible (due to the size of the reproduction.)
Other than that, there's a lot of fabulous artwork here which has inspired me to look for more work by those artists.
December 12, 2020
Borrowed this to flip through, was sucked into reading every biography, note, and little detail because of how well it was written.
January 7, 2022
I am really conflicted about this book. At some points it is a really great breakdown of queer art and how it has developed throughout history with wonderful images of art to take in.
However at other points, it is an absolute slog (especially the essays at the beginning), where the author's have went out of their way to find the biggest words possible to describe concepts and anyone without a doctorate in English will want to keep a dictionary at hand at all times to understand what they are trying to say. It reads like a textbook, actually it reads worse than a textbook, it reads like a textbook written by someone who doesn't care to educate you but wrote a textbook to prove how well read they are on the subject.
For a book about queer art, this book makes an already hard to access topic feel even less accessible to the average person. Which may be the worst possible thing the book could do as there is so much good information about art and queer history in this book, but the book just makes you want to set it down sometimes after you have to go and search the definition of a word for the third time on a single page.
Although, its saving grace, due to the nature of being a book that is mostly pictures, is that you can just ignore what the authors are writing at most points and just experience the art, which is lovely and quite interesting.
However at other points, it is an absolute slog (especially the essays at the beginning), where the author's have went out of their way to find the biggest words possible to describe concepts and anyone without a doctorate in English will want to keep a dictionary at hand at all times to understand what they are trying to say. It reads like a textbook, actually it reads worse than a textbook, it reads like a textbook written by someone who doesn't care to educate you but wrote a textbook to prove how well read they are on the subject.
For a book about queer art, this book makes an already hard to access topic feel even less accessible to the average person. Which may be the worst possible thing the book could do as there is so much good information about art and queer history in this book, but the book just makes you want to set it down sometimes after you have to go and search the definition of a word for the third time on a single page.
Although, its saving grace, due to the nature of being a book that is mostly pictures, is that you can just ignore what the authors are writing at most points and just experience the art, which is lovely and quite interesting.
July 12, 2018
The funny thing with history is that sometimes the past isn't what it seems. This book does manage to bypass the current trend to reimagine and romanticize the past (i.e. pirates being model societies while ignoring their misdeeds) and tries to situate queerness in art history in the time that it was happening. It leads to ignoring the concept of the closet when it didn't exist. The harlem of the 1920s is there in great form and the fall or the beginning of wide disapproval in the 1950s of homosexuals.
Even the words and their meanings of heterosexual and homosexual are placed in a medical historical perspective without a broad ranging idea that gays were were accepted in all of history except for this tiny bit. There is the hint of a more personal time where these things weren't spoken about.
i really enjoyed a good chunk of this volume. There was a realization of how writing has changed over time by reading similar themes by different dates. This alone would merit interest. If you have interest in art and would like to see queer culture reflected, this volume is pretty impressive.
Even the words and their meanings of heterosexual and homosexual are placed in a medical historical perspective without a broad ranging idea that gays were were accepted in all of history except for this tiny bit. There is the hint of a more personal time where these things weren't spoken about.
i really enjoyed a good chunk of this volume. There was a realization of how writing has changed over time by reading similar themes by different dates. This alone would merit interest. If you have interest in art and would like to see queer culture reflected, this volume is pretty impressive.
July 23, 2019
An ambitious picture-book featuring a lot of heroic, overlooked art.
December 1, 2022
A great book to introduce you into queer art, if you are interested. If you connect or want to know more about an artist you should learn more about them but as an introduction is recomendable.
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January 11, 2023had to give up when the font size dropped <10. otherwise the main parts provided lovely coverage of lgbt arts hx.
October 18, 2025
Fine art research
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June 7, 2019700.103 L8662 2019
May 12, 2016
This book is really good. A book you must read. The introduction is two great survey essays from 1885 to the present. Great selection of primary documents at the back. In between there is a really excellent selection of key artworks by gay and lesbian artists. It's a book I've read twice but have opened it up many times at random to dip into one or two of the artists work.
This is a must have on your bookshelf.
This is a must have on your bookshelf.
November 12, 2015
Fantastic resource on queer art. The essays are brief, but the content and the source material that this book provides is fantastic.
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July 29, 2016700.103 L8662 2013
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews