Hunter O'Hanian, director of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, says, "What we hope that we can do -- and what we care a great deal about -- is treat and deal with issues of gender and sex in a professional museum setting that is done in a straight forward and honest manner. So that other museums have the courage to do so."
The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art is in none other than New York, New York and is said to be the only LGBTQ museum in the world. The museum was made and is operated by the non-profit Leslie Lohman Gay Art Foundation, which was founded by Charles Leslie in 1987. The Leslie Lohman Gay Art Foundation has supported LGBTQ artists for over the last 30 years and continues to do so.
The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art has a collection of over 24,000 works and contains information on over 1,900 LGBTQ artists. They not only have information on the artists that feature work in their museum, but also other artists that that LGBTQ audiences may be interested in. Not only that, but the museum ALSO has a library that has over 1,000 volumes that is considered to be one of the most comprehensive collection of books, pamphlets, and catalogs on LGBTQ art.
I encourage you to check out their online database that allows you to search over 1,000 images in their collection. This link will take you to a page that gives details on how to use their database, from their, you can click on a link they provide you with to access the online database. Oh, and just for added info, admission to the museum is free and open to the public! Just a little added incentive if anyone's interested.. Here's the link to the museum's page! :)
In the meantime, here are three works that can be found in the museum.
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David Hockney, Two Boys aged 23 or 24 from: Fourteen Poems from C.P. Cavafy, 1966, Etching and aquatint on wove paper, 13.75 x 8.75 in. Foundation purchase with funds provided by Ray Warman and Dan Kiser
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Dyke Action Machine (DAM), Do you love the dyke in your life, 1995, Processed ink on paper, 8x8in.
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James Bidgood, Willow Tree (Bruce Kirkman), mid-1960s, Digital C-print, 19.688x15.438in.
--Josephine Hicks
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For some reason I really like Willow Tree. It's very fanciful and colorful as well as aesthetically pleasing. I also took a short look around the database and was really surprised by the amount of works that were nudes but not necessarily sexual. I like when artists point out that a body doesn't need to be sexualized. This is something I'd really love to see someday, so thanks for showing us this!
ReplyDelete-Erin Lucas
It's funny to think I could have passed this museum when I had went to New York two years ago. But anyway, the artwork looks phenomenal and it's really progressive to think that we even have a museum of gay and lesbian art. It surprises me that it's the only one in the world, but hopefully this one does bring about many others in different locations; it'd be interesting to see the expression in art of different LGBT people from different cultures.
ReplyDelete-Tarryn Priestly