The First Homosexuals : an Art Exhibit at Wrightwood 659 @ Chicago

A painting of man in a black suit holding a small portrait, sitting in front of a table with various items. A mirrored ball on the table reflects the painter gazing at the scene

First Homosexuals: Global Depictions of a New Identity, 1869-1930, begins in the year 1869, when the word “homosexual” was coined in Europe, inaugurating the idea of same-sex desire as the basis for a new identity category. With more than 100 paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, and film clips—drawn from public and private collections around the globe and including works that have never before been allowed to travel outside their countries—this large-scale international exhibition offers the first multi-media survey of some of the founding works of queer art. The First Homosexuals explores what the earliest homosexuals understood themselves to be, how dominant culture understood them, and how the codes of representation they employed offer previously unknown glimpses into the social and cultural meanings of same-sex desire.

Already three years in the making, the exhibition is being developed by a team of 23 international scholars, led by art historian Jonathan D. Katz, Professor of Practice in the History of Art and Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, with associate curator Johnny Willis

Alice Austen, “Trude & I, Masked, Short Skirts,” 1891, silver gelatin glass plate negative, 4 x 5 in, Collection of Historic Richmond Town.	Gerda Wegener (1886 – 1940, Denmark), “Reclining Nude (Lili Elbe),” 1929, watercolor on paper, 52.8 x 68.3 cm, The Shin Collection, New York, Image Courtesy of Shin Gallery, New York.
Violet Oakley, Study for Portrait of Edith Emerson Lecturing [at] Lake George	Edith Emerson, Portrait of Violet Oakley

The First Homosexuals is being organized in two parts, due to COVID-related delays, with part one that opened on October 1 with approximately 100 works, and on view only at Wrightwood 659. Three years from now, in 2025, 250 masterworks will be gathered at Wrightwood 659 for part two of The First Homosexuals in an exhibition that will travel internationally and be accompanied by a comprehensive catalog.

The First Homosexuals: Global Depictions of a New Identity, 1869-1930    Oct 1-Dec 17
WRIGHTWOOD 659

659 W. Wrightwood
Chicago, IL 60614