I wonder what he would have thought of the 1920s "pansy craze"?
The exhibit includes work representing plenty of the usual suspects besides Andy. Like this "coded" photo of E.M. Forster (on top) by George Platt Lynes. Supposedly only gay men would realize that the other guy was his lover.
Have you ever seen James Baldwin without a cigarette? The under-appreciated Beauford Delaney painted this colorful portrait.
Keith Haring drew this poster advertising a modern dance event.
The depth of my ignorance about lesbian history is appalling. Parisian flaneur and New Yorker writer Janet Flanner wrote this love letter in the shape of a tulip to Mercedes de Acosta who in turn had a crush on Greta Garbo. I didn't even know Flanner was gay. Live and learn.
On the other hand, there's not much I don't know about cruising. Gay men sunned themselves on abandoned piers in the Village. Those were the pre-AIDs days. Down-low photographer Alvin Baltrop documented this scene, too.
A series of photos, all discreetly shot with a Polaroid by the same man, evoked nostalgia for the Times Square that frightened and appalled me as a naive college kid.
If I had seen this magazine on sale at the time, I probably would have made a furtive purchase at one of the grimy newsstands. How quaint the cover seems now!
I did buy a copy of Meat, still the filthiest thing I've ever read, published by Boyd McDonald's STH (Straight To Hell) Press.
Who knew there was an "International Transvestite Quarterly"? Not yo momma's drag, that's for sure. Passing seems to be the point.
Gay Gotham also pays lip service to the trans community.
No comments:
Post a Comment