Queers in History: painter

Showing posts with label painter. Show all posts

Wednesday, 13 March 2013

Henry Scott Tuke, (U.K) . Painter

b. June 12, 1858
d. 13 March 1929

Henry Scott Tuke, RA RWS, was a British visual artist; primarily a painter, but also a photographer. His most notable work was in the Impressionist style, and he is probably best known for his paintings of nude boys and young men, some of which are featured below/

Henry Scott Tuke was born in York, England, of Quaker parents. In 1874 he moved with his family to London. Here he enrolled at the Slade School of Art and won a three-year scholsrship.

The Bathers

In 1880 he traveled to Italy, and from 1881 to 1883 lived in Paris. In 1883 he moved to the fishing village of Newlyn in Cornwall, where he became a founder of the Newlyn School, but in 1885 he settled in another Cornish town, Falmouth, where he was to live for the rest of his life.

Ruby, Gold and Malachite

Tuke was an accomplished portritist and mantained a studio in London. His sitters included the soldier and author T.E. Lawrence. He was also the grand master of romantic boy painting, and was almost obsessed with the painting of nude youths.

Two Boys and a Dog

Source:

Matt & Andrej Komasky

Books:

The Life & Work of Henry Scott Tuke: 1858-1929

Catching the Light: Henry Scott Tuke: The Art and Life of Henry Scott Tuke

Wicked Angels (Southern Tier Editions)

Henry Scott Tuke Paintings from Cornwall

August Blue

Thursday, 8 November 2012

George Quaintance (1902/3 - 1957 ) US. Artist / Photographer

b. 3rd June 1902
d. 8th November 1957

Quaintance was a gay American artist, famous for his "idealized, strongly homoerotic" depictions of men in mid-20th-century physique magazines. Using historical settings to justify the nudity or distance the subjects from modern society, his art featured idealized muscular, semi-nude or nude male figures; Wild West settings were a common motif. His artwork helped establish the stereotype of the "macho stud" who was also gay. He was an influence on many later homoerotic artists, such as Tom of Finland.

His companion and life partner was Victor Garcia, who was also his business associate and model, who was the subject of many of Quaintance's photographs in the 1940s.

In 1951, Quaintance's art was used for the first cover of Physique Pictorial, edited by Bob Mizer of the Athletic Model Guild. In the early 1950s, Quaintance and Garcia moved to Rancho Siesta, which became the home of Studio Quaintance, a business venture based around Quaintance's artworks.In 1953, Quaintance completed a series of three paintings about a matador, modeled by Angel Avila, another of his lovers. By 1956, the business had become so successful that Quaintance could not keep up with the demand for his works.

Charles Demuth (1883 – 1935) US. Painter

b. 8th November, 1883
d. 1935

American watercolorist who turned to oils late in his career, developing a style of painting known as Precisionism. One of America's first modernist painters, he was also one of the earliest artists in the USA to expose his gay identity through forthright, positive depictions of homosexual desire.

Three Sailors

"Search the history of American art," wrote Ken Johnson in The New York Times, "and you will discover few watercolors more beautiful than those of Charles Demuth. Combining exacting botanical observation and loosely Cubist abstraction, his watercolors of flowers, fruit and vegetables have a magical liveliness and an almost shocking sensuousness. His most famous painting, The Figure Five in Gold, was inspired by his friend William Carlos Williams's poem "The Great Figure". Roberta Smith described the work in The New York Times: "Demuth's famous visionary accounting of Williams, I Saw the Figure Five in Gold, [is] a painting whose title and medallion-like arrangement of angled forms were both inspired by a verse the poet wrote after watching a fire engine streak past him on a rainy Manhattan street while waiting for Marsden Hartley, whose studio he was visiting, to answer his door."Describing its importance, Judith H. Dobrzynski in The Wall Street Journal wrote: "It's the best work in a genre Demuth created, the "poster portrait". It's a witty homage to his close friend, the poet William Carlos Williams, and a transliteration into paint of his poem, "The Great Figure". It's a decidedly American work made at a time when U.S. artists were just moving beyond European influences. It's a reference to the intertwined relationships among the arts in the 1920s, a moment of cross-pollination that led to American Modernism. And it anticipates pop art."

The work is one of nine poster portraits Demuth created to honor his creative friends. The others were devoted to artists Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur Dove, Charles Duncan, Marsden Hartley, John Marin, and writers Gertrude Stein, Eugene O'Neill, and Wallace Stevens.

Demuth, the son of a successful merchant, had the financial freedom to pursue his artistic vision without debilitating regard for public opinion--concerning either aesthetics or sexuality--while his talent ensured that even the most provocative works were of unassailable quality.

November 8th in Queer History

Events this day in queer history:

1977 - Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, making him the first openly gay man to be elected in a major US city. Dan White, who would murder Harvey Milk just over a year later, was also elected.

1988 - Oregon voters repealed an executive order which prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation among state government employees.

1992 - The East Nashville Cooperative Ministry denied membership to Dayspring Christian Fellowship, a mostly gay and lesbian congregation.

1995 - In Zimbabwe, Tribal Chief Norbert Makoni addressed Parliament, saying gays and lesbians should be sentenced to whipping.

1995 - Representatives of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) approached television stations in four US cities to buy advertising time for two ads, one on the prevention of suicide among gay and lesbian youth and one about gay bashing. All stations refused to air the suicide ad, and only two cable stations and one network affiliate station would air the gay-bashing ad. They were told the ads offended community standards.

1996 - Transgender activists protested outside the offices of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington DC.

Born this day

Anne Seymour Damer (1748 - 1828) UK. Sculptor

English sculptor.

Charles Demuth (1883 – 1935) US. Painter

Gerald Chapman (1949 – 1987) UK. Theatrical director.

English theatre director and educator who in 1974, at a time when Gay Liberation was just beginning in the UK, joined other gay activists and playwrights to set up one of the first Gay Theatre seasons in the UK.

Roy Simmons (1956 – ) US. American Football

American football player who played for the National Football League. In 1992, he came out of the closet as gay on the Phil Donahue Show.

Chi Chi LaRue (1959 – ) US. Porn Director

American film director of gay, bisexual and straight pornography. He is best known in his drag persona as Chi Chi LaRue and has also directed under the names Lawrence David and Taylor Hudson

Megan Cavanagh (1960 – ) US. Actress

American actress who portrayed the roles of Marla Hooch in A League of Their Own(1992), Broomhilde in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and Essie in Dracula: Dead and Loving It. Openly lesbian,Cavanagh stars in Exes & Ohs, a lesbian comedy on Logo TV.

Craig Chester (1965 – ) US. Actor / Screenwriter

American actor and screenwriter, best known for his performances in independent films in the 1990s. Openly gay himself, he agrees that being open and honest can be harmful to an actor's career. In his 2002 autobiography, "Why the Long Face? The Adventures of a Truly Independent Actor", he chronicles the lost battles of being an openly gay actor, concluding that "being in the closet is good for business."

Sam Sparro (1982 – ) Australian. Singer / Music Producer

Australian singer-songwriter, music producer, and former child actor. Sparro is openly gay. He did an interview for Attitude magazine and was featured on the front cover.

Died this day

George Quaintance (1902/3 - 1957 ) US. Artist / Photographer

American artist famous for his "idealized, strongly homoerotic" depictions of men in physique magazines.

Gottfried von Cramm (1909 - 1976 ) German. Tennis

German amateur tennis champion and twice French Open champion. In 1938, von Cramm was arrested by the German government, tried for homosexuality, and sentenced to 1 year imprisonment. This criminal conviction later caused several problems in his tennis career, and also led to his dismissal from military service in 1942 - even though he had already been awarded an Iron Cross for action on the Eastern Front.

After his death, Von Cramm was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1977. Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, included Gottfried von Cramm in his list of the 21 greatest players of all time.

Warren Casey (1935 - 1988 ) US. Composer, Lyricist, Author.

American theatre composer, lyricist, writer, and actor. He is best known for being the writer and composer, with Jim Jacobs of the stage and film musical Grease. Casey was gay, and he died of AIDS-related complications in Chicago at the age of 53.

Frances Faye (1912 - 1991) US. Singer, Actress

American cabaret and show tune singer and pianist. She was married twice in the 1940s. In the late 1950s, a woman named Teri Shepherd became her manager and lifelong partner

Larry Levan (1954 - 1992). US DJ

DJ best known for his decade-long residency at the New York City night club Paradise Garage, which has been described as the prototype of the modern dance club. Levan was openly gay and got his start alongside DJ Frankie Knuckles at the Continental Baths. In September 2004, Levan was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame for his outstanding achievement as a DJ.

Jean Marais (1913 - 1998 ). French Actor

Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais was a French actor and director, who starred in several movies directed by Jean Cocteau (who was for a time his lover), most famously Beauty and the Beast and Orphée

Sodomy laws in history, November 8

1912 — The Michigan Supreme Court upholds a sodomy conviction despite possible prejudice against the defendant.

1944 — The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a lower court and orders an investigation of an Indiana man’s claim of false imprisonment on sodomy charges.

1961 — The North Carolina Supreme Court rules that penetration must be proven to convict for sodomy.

Sources:

Wikipedia
Today in Gay History, Blue Pride
On This Gay Day

glbtq emcyclopedia

Gay History Wiki

Tuesday, 30 October 2012

Louise Abbéma (1853 - 1927), France: Artist

b. October 30th, 1853
d. 1927

Born in Estampe, at the age of 18 Louise received her first public recognition for her portrait of the actress Sarah Bernhardt - who was her lover at that time (see at left).

Louise went on to paint the portraits of many leading members of Society as well as murals in the Hotel de Ville and the Opera House in Paris.

Her work was exhibited in the Women's Building at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

One of the exhibits was a bust that Sarah Bernhardt had sculpted of her. She wrote for the journals "L'Art" and "Gazette des Beaux-Arts".

Louise was made Official Painter of the Third Republic and in 1906 received the Legion d'Honneur.

Source: Matt and Andrej Koymasky Living Room - LGBT Biographies

Saturday, 6 August 2011

Andy Warhol, Artist

b. August 6, 1928
d. February 22, 1987

"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."

With his pioneering image-appropriating Pop Art, Andy Warhol is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

Born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he studied pictorial design at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). He moved to New York City and worked in advertising for Tiffany & Co., Columbia Records, Vogue, NBC and The New York Times.

Galleries rejected his early drawings due to their overt homosexual content. In the 1960’s, Warhol appropriated images from popular culture to create his iconic "Campbell Soup Can," "Disasters" and "Marilyn" series. He made avant-garde films including "Sleep," "Chelsea Girls" and "Empire." Warhol’s studio, The Factory, attracted artists, art critics and celebrities.

In the 1970’s, he focused on celebrity portraits using screen printing and paint. Mick Jagger, Liza Minnelli, John Lennon and Diana Ross were among his subjects. Warhol founded the magazine Interview, dedicated to the "cult of celebrity." He wrote in "The Philosophy of Andy Warhol" (1975) that "Making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art."

Following routine gall bladder surgery, Warhol suffered a heart attack and died. His will stipulated that his estate create a foundation for the advancement of the arts. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts helps secure Warhol’s legacy and is one of the preeminent national funders of innovative contemporary art.

Warhol’s work is exhibited in modern art institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum, all in New York City, the Tate Museum in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh is the world’s largest museum dedicated to a single artist.

Bibliography

“American Masters.” PBS. July 2, 2008

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/warhol_a.html

“Andy Warhol.” The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

July 2, 2008

http://www.warholfoundation.org/biograph.htm

“Andy Warhol.” Guggenheim Museum. July 2, 2008

http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_bio_163.html

Pearson, Richard. “Andy Warhol, Pioneer of Pop Art, Dies after Heart Attack.” The Washington Post. February 23, 1987

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/review96/fishotandywarhol.htm

Articles

Dargis, Manohola. “Unblinking Eye, Visual Diary: Warhol’s Films.” The New York Times. October 21, 2007