Connect with us

LGBT Images In Art: The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name Just Won’t Shut Up!

Published

on

Andy Warhol, Camouflage Self-Portrait, 1986. Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen on canvas, 80 1/2 x 76 inches (204.5 x193 cm). Philadelphia Museum or Art: Acquired with funds contributed by the Committee on Twentieth-Century Art and as a partial gift ot the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., 1993.131 .1. © 2011 The Andy Warhol Foundation tor the Visual Arts /Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

The Love that dare not speak its name just won’t shut up!* Marriage Equality bills are being debated and passed in state legislatures and signed — or in one instance vetoed — by governors across the nation. One of the leading contenders in the Republican presidential race spends more time talking about gay sex than most gay men I know. LGBTQ issues and images are prominently in the media and in our museums. From coast to coast, people living in or visiting New York, Ohio, Texas or Washington state will have the opportunity to view major exhibitions at notable museums which focus on or include works of art that are explicitly or implicitly depictions of LGBTQ subjects or iconography.

Romaine Brooks, Self-Portrait, 1923. Oil on canvas, 46 1/4 x 26 7/8 in. (117.5 x 68.3 cm). Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Gift of the artist.

HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture will make its final stop at the Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) from March 17th to June 10th; this is the exhibition’s only West Coast destination. In Manhattan, The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde is at the Met now through June 3. And in Dallas, The Dallas Museum of Art presents Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties through May 27 before the show moves on to The Cleveland Museum of Art where it will be on view July 1 –September 16.  Over the next few days The New Civil Rights Movement will give our readers a look at these exhibitions.

 

Thomas Cowperthwaite Eakins, Whitman, 1891 (printed 1979). Platinum print, 4 1/16 x 4 13/16in. (10.3 x 12.2 cm). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, NPG 79.65.


READ: Sacrilege Or Censorship? Christians Enraged by Art with Gay, Religious Images

Alice Neel, Frank O'Hara, 1960. Oil on canvas, 33 3/4 x 16 x 1 in. (85.7 x 40.6 x 2.5 om). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, NPG 96.l 28, gift ot Hartley S. Neel (c) Estate of Alice Neel.

Here in the Pacific Northwest spring is in evidence; daffodils are popping up and the Forsythia is in bloom; it is a great time for a visit. Another reason to visit is Hide/Seek which opens Saturday in Tacoma, just a short drive from Seattle. This compelling exhibition, which debuted at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery last year before moving to The Brooklyn Museum, offers an unprecedented survey of nearly 150 years of American art and includes works by masters including Thomas Eakins, John Singer Sargent, Georgia O’Keeffe, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and more. This is the first major museum exhibition to focus on sexual difference in the making of modern American portraiture.

“Hide/Seek” considers such themes as the role of sexual difference in depicting modern America; how artists explored the fluidity of sexuality and gender; how major themes in modern art—especially abstraction—were influenced by social marginalization; and how art reflected society’s evolving and changing attitudes toward sexuality, desire, and romantic attachment.

Peter Hujar, Susan Sontag, 1975. Gelatin silver print. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.


“Tacoma Art Museum is excited to be a part of the national discourse. HIDE/SEEK redefines how modern American portraiture is viewed through the lens of gender and sexuality identity,” says Stephanie A. Stebich, Director of Tacoma Art Museum. “This exhibition comes at a time of historic legislation and we have a rich history of presenting compelling programs that spur ideas and dialogue within our community.”

 

Cass Bird, I Look Just Like My Daddy, 2003 (printed 2010). C-41 print. Collection of the artist, New York.


“All of the works in HIDE/SEEK demonstrate how issues of LGBTQ identity has informed American art. Each work represents how these artists saw themselves within the larger American culture. Thomas Eakins molds beauty and desire into a visual metaphor based on classical antiquity. Cass Bird plays with the fluidity of gender. The stylistic differences from Eakins to Bird explore how individual expression provides the foundations of modern art. [This exhibit] reaffirms the deep and enduring contributions of these influential American artists while simultaneously highlighting their personal experiences as society re-invented itself generation after generation,” says Rock Hushka, TAM’s curator of contemporary and Northwest art. “Importantly, these artists spoke through modernism to declare their identities, historically coded but with increasing boldness and positivity.”

Marsden Hartley, Eight Bells Folly: Memorial to Hart Crane, 1933. Oil on canvas, 80 5/8 x 39 3/8 in. (77.8 x l00.0 cm). Collection of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museurn at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Gift ot lone and Hudson D. Walker. 1961.4.


Dr. Jonathan D. Katz, co-curator of HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture, spoke at The Tacoma Art Museum on Thursday, July 28, about the exhibition. In this video Dr. Katz discusses the stories behind a selection of artwork from the exhibition, shares the Fire in My Belly video by David Wojnarowicz, and gives an inside look into what it took to make the exhibition a reality.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=a9bucNc5ddo%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US

Video courtesy of The Tacoma Art Museum

*At the  trial which proved his undoing, Oscar Wilde referenced his lover Bosie’s (Lord Alfred Douglas) poem, Two Loves. Almost no one knows the poem, but almost everyone knows its most famous line, “the Love that dare not speak its name.”

 

HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture

from March 17 to June 10, 2012

Tacoma Art Museum

1701 Pacific Avenue  Tacoma, WA 98402

HOURS – Wednesdays–Sundays 10 am–5 pm, Thursdays 10 am–8 pm (March 22 through June 7)
ADMISSION – Adult $9, Student/Military/Senior (65+) $8, Family $25 (2 adults and up to 4 children under 18). Children 5 and under free. Third Thursdays free from 5-8 pm. Members always free.
CONTACT – 253.272.4258

 

 

Stuart Wilber. Photo by Mathew Ryan Williams

Stuart Wilber believes that living life openly as a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender or Allied person is the most powerful kind of activism. Shortly after meeting his partner in Chicago in 1977, he opened a gallery named In a Plain Brown Wrapper, where he exhibited cutting edge work by leading artists; art that dealt with sexuality and gender identification. In the late 1980’s when they moved to San Clemente, CA in Orange County, life as an openly gay couple became a political act. They moved to Seattle 16 years ago and married in Canada a few weeks after British Columbia legalized same-​sex marriage. Although legally married in some countries, they are only considered domestic partners in Washington State. Equality continues to elude him.

Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

OPINION

‘I Hope You Find Happiness’: Moskowitz Trolls Comer Over Impeachment Fail

Published

on

U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) is mocking House Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Comer over a CNN report revealing the embattled Kentucky Republican who has been alleging without proof President Joe Biden is the head of a vast multi-million dollar criminal bribery and influence-peddling conspiracy, has given up trying to impeach the leader of the free world.

CNN on Wednesday had reported, “after 15 months of coming up short in proving some of his biggest claims against the president, Comer recently approached one of his Republican colleagues and made a blunt admission: He was ready to be ‘done with’ the impeachment inquiry into Biden.” The news network described Chairman Comer as “frustrated” and his investigation as “at a dead end.”

One GOP lawmaker told CNN, “Comer is hoping Jesus comes so he can get out.”

“He is fed up,” the Republican added.

Despite the Chairman’s alleged remarks, “a House Oversight Committee spokesperson maintains that ‘the impeachment inquiry is ongoing and impeachment is 100% still on the table.'”

RELATED: ‘Used by the Russians’: Moskowitz Mocks Comer’s Biden Impeachment Failure

Last week, Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) got into a shouting match with Chairman Comer, with the Maryland Democrat saying, “You have not identified a single crime – what is the crime that you want to impeach Joe Biden for and keep this nonsense going?” and Comer replying, “You’re about to find out.”

Before those heated remarks, Congressman Raskin chided Comer, humorously threatening to invite Rep. Moskowitz to return to the hearing.

Congressman Moskowitz appears to be the only member of the House Oversight Committee who has ever made a motion to call for a vote on impeaching President Biden, which he did last month, although he did it to ridicule Chairman Comer.

It appears the Moskowitz-Comer “bromance” may be over.

Wednesday afternoon Congressman Moskowitz, whose sarcasm is becoming well-known, used it to ridicule Chairman Comer.

“I was hoping our breakup would never become public,” he declared. “We had such a great thing while it lasted James. I will miss the time we spent together. I will miss our conversations. I will miss the pet names you gave me. I only wish you the best and hope you find happiness.”

Watch the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Doesn’t Care if Pregnant Women Live or Die’: Alito Slammed Over Emergency Abortion Remarks

Continue Reading

OPINION

‘Doesn’t Care if Pregnant Women Live or Die’: Alito Slammed Over Emergency Abortion Remarks

Published

on

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case centered on the question, can the federal government require states with strict abortion bans to allow physicians to perform abortions in emergency situations, specifically when the woman’s health, but not her life, is in danger?

The 1986 federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), signed into law by Republican President Ronald Reagan, says it can. The State of Idaho on Wednesday argued it cannot.

U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, The Washington Post’s Kim Bellware reported, “made a clear delineation between Idaho law and what EMTALA provides.”

“In Idaho, doctors have to shut their eyes to everything except death,” Prelogar said, according to Bellware. “Whereas under EMTALA, you’re supposed to be thinking about things like, ‘Is she about to lose her fertility? Is her uterus going to become incredibly scarred because of the bleeding? Is she about to undergo the possibility of kidney failure?’ ”

READ MORE: Gag Order Breach? Trump Targeted Cohen in Taped Interview Hours Before Contempt Hearing

Attorney Imani Gandy, an award-winning journalist and Editor-at-Large for Rewire News Group, highlighted an issue central to the case.

“The issue of medical judgment vs. good faith judgment is a huge one because different states have different standards of judgment,” she writes. “If a doctor exercises their judgment, another doctor expert witness at trial could question that. That’s a BIG problem here. That’s why doctors are afraid to provide abortions. They may have an overzealous prosecutor come behind them and disagree.”

Right-wing Justice Samuel Alito appeared to draw the most fire from legal experts, as his questioning suggested “fetal personhood” should be the law, which it is not.

“Justice Alito is trying to import fetal personhood into federal statutory law by suggesting federal law might well prohibit hospitals from providing abortions as emergency stabilizing care,” observed Constitutional law professor Anthony Michael Kreis.

Paraphrasing Justice Alito, Kreis writes: “Alito: How can the federal government restrict what Idaho criminalizes simply because hospitals in Idaho have accepted federal funds?”

Appearing to answer that question, Georgia State University College of Law professor of law and Constitutional scholar Eric Segall wrote: “Our Constitution unequivocally allows the federal gov’t to offer the states money with conditions attached no matter how invasive b/c states can always say no. The conservative justices’ hostility to the spending power is based only on politics and values not text or history.”

Professor Segall also served up some of the strongest criticism of the right-wing justice.

READ MORE: ‘They Will Have Thugs?’: Lara Trump’s Claim RNC Will ‘Physically Handle the Ballots’ Stuns

He wrote that Justice Alito “is basically making it clear he doesn’t care if pregnant women live or die as long as the fetus lives.”

Earlier Wednesday morning Segall had issued a warning: “Trigger alert: In about 20 minutes several of the conservative justices are going to show very clearly that that they care much more about fetuses than women suffering major pregnancy complications which is their way of owning the libs which is grotesque.”

Later, predicting “Alito is going to dissent,” Segall wrote: “Alito is dripping arrogance and condescension…in a case involving life, death, and medical emergencies. He has no bottom.”

Taking a broader view of the case, NYU professor of law Melissa Murray issued a strong warning: “The EMTALA case, Moyle v. US, hasn’t received as much attention as the mifepristone case, but it is huge. Not only implicates access to emergency medical procedures (like abortion in cases of miscarriage), but the broader question of federal law supremacy.”

READ MORE: ‘Blood on Your Hands’: Tennessee Republicans OK Arming Teachers After Deadly School Shooting

 

 

 

Continue Reading

News

Gag Order Breach? Trump Targeted Cohen in Taped Interview Hours Before Contempt Hearing

Published

on

Hours before his attorneys would mount a defense on Tuesday claiming he had not violated his gag order Donald Trump might have done just that in a 12-minute taped interview that morning, which did not air until later that day. It will be up to Judge Juan Merchan to make that decision, if prosecutors add it to their contempt request.

Prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office told Judge Juan Merchan that the ex-president violated the gag order ten times, via posts on his Truth Social platform, and are asking he be held in contempt. While the judge has yet to rule, he did not appear moved by their arguments. At one point, Judge Merchan told Trump’s lead lawyer Todd Blanche he was “losing all credibility” with the court.

And while Judge Merchan directed defense attorneys to provide a detailed timeline surrounding Trump’s Truth Social posts to prove he had not violated the gag order, Trump in an interview with a local television station appeared to have done so.

READ MORE: ‘They Will Have Thugs?’: Lara Trump’s Claim RNC Will ‘Physically Handle the Ballots’ Stuns

The gag order bars Trump from “commenting or causing others to comment on potential witnesses in the case, prospective jurors, court staff, lawyers in the district attorney’s office and the relatives of any counsel or court staffer, as CBS News reported.

“The threat is very real,” Judge Merchan wrote when he expanded the gag order. “Admonitions are not enough, nor is reliance on self-restraint. The average observer, must now, after hearing Defendant’s recent attacks, draw the conclusion that if they become involved in these proceedings, even tangentially, they should worry not only for themselves, but for their loved ones as well. Such concerns will undoubtedly interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitutes a direct attack on the Rule of Law itself.”

Tuesday morning, Trump told ABC Philadelphia’s Action News reporter Walter Perez, “Michael Cohen is a convicted liar. He’s got no credibility whatsoever.”

He repeated that Cohen is a “convicted liar,” and insisted he “was a lawyer for many people, not just me.”

READ MORE: ‘Old and Tired and Mad’: Trump’s Demeanor in Court Detailed by Rachel Maddow

Since Cohen is a witness in Trump’s New York criminal case, Judge Merchan might decide Trump’s remarks during that interview violated the gag order, if prosecutors bring the video to his attention.

Enter attorney George Conway, who has been attending Trump’s New York trial.

Conway reposted a clip of the video, tagged Manhattan District Attorney Bragg, writing: “cc: @ManhattanDA, for your proposed order to show cause why the defendant in 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘷. 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 should not spend some quiet time in lockup.”

Trump has been criminally indicted in four separate cases and is facing a total of 88 felony charges, including 34 in this New York criminal trial for alleged falsification of business records to hide payments of “hush money” to an adult film actress and one other woman, in an alleged effort to suppress their stories and protect his 2016 presidential campaign, which experts say is election interference.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Blood on Your Hands’: Tennessee Republicans OK Arming Teachers After Deadly School Shooting

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.