Homosexual drawings


Featuring works from – relating to Homosexual identities and Homoerotic appearances within art. Under the umbrella term of 'art and identity', sexuality resides within its own category. Queer Art explores how artists expressed themselves in a period when established assumptions about gender and sexuality were being questioned and transformed. Taking a roughly chronological view of the most important shifts and themes when it comes to the slow incline of acceptance of homosexuality. It is important to realize historical context when viewing these works, and the changing laws and views on homosexuality around the world

Artists featured in this Curation:Derek Jarman (–), John David Yeadon (b), Colin Hall (b), David Hockney (b), Francis Bacon (–), Henry Scott Tuke (–), Ethel Walker (–), William Strang (–), Duncan Grant (–),

Ganymede was 'the fairest of mortal men; wherefore the gods caught him up on high to be cupbearer to Zeus by reason of his beauty, that he might dwell with the immortals.'

So says Homer in the Iliad. Throughout antiquity, there was a fascination with the tale of how Zeus, king of the gods, fell in love with a human boy. The scene of Zeus swooping down from Olympus to steal away Ganymede, known as 'The Rape of Ganymede', appeared on pottery, frescoes, statues and mosaics.

Zeus and Ganymede

c– BC, Attic red-figured kylix, attributed to the Penthesilea Painter. Ferrara Archaeological Museum

While many ancient depictions from Greece show two humans in the tale of Ganymede, the Romans favoured a version more in keeping with Zeus' fondness for wooing mortals in zoological form. According to the Roman poet Ovid:

'The king of the gods was once fired with treasure for Phrygian Ganymede, and when that happened Jupiter found another shape preferable to his own. Wishing to turn himself into a bird, he nonetheless scorned to change into any save that which can carry hi

The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity Jonathan D. Katz

A groundbreaking, global survey of queer art, featuring more than artworks made following the introduction of the term ‘homosexual’ in

An unprecedented and historic new manual, The First Homosexuals traces the evolution of the homosexual identity through an archive of more than paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints, photographs, and film stills from around the world – many presented in a queer, global, and colonial context for the first time. Accompanying the works are twenty-two original, insightful essays by leading experts in art and queer history, each focusing on one geographical region – from Japan to Australia to the Indigenous populations of South America. Ranging from well-known masterpieces to works by unknown artists and pieces rarely considered in the context of sexuality, The First Homosexuals offers a stunning and illuminating look at the first self-consciously queer art. The book accompanies a groundbreaking exhibition of the same name presented at Wrightwood in Chicago.

Holland Day, Kri

A Couple Reenacts A Well-known World War II Kiss

Barry Blitt

The Apostrophe

William Haefeli

Mothers' Day

Chris Ware

New Yorker June 13th,

Jacques de Loustal

Lateral Pass

Harry Bliss

I Had A Charming Time Checking Out Great-looking

Marisa Acocella Marchetto

A Couple Watch On At Their Son Who Is Dressed

Ward Sutton

A Group Of Criminals Are Planning In A Room

Paul Noth

Do You Have Any California Wines That Support

Christopher Weyant

I Still Say We Should Get A Queen-sized Mattress

William Haefeli

Should I Enter Out To Everyone All At Once Or One

William Haefeli

Two Gay Women Communicate In Bed

William Haefeli

A Cowboy Is Down On One Knee

Michael Maslin

Two Men Are In Bed Together. One

Emily Flake

New Yorker February 16th,

John O'Brien

And Every Period I Start To Earn The Least Bit

Michael Crawford

A Gay Man Serves Diet To His Partner Who

William Haefeli

Two Men Are Seen Talking In A Living Room

William Haefeli

Two Men Are Wearing Ironic Clothes And Walking

Paul Noth