Interestingly, I also have an undergraduate degree in art history and we talked about this stuff... a lot. I will nder where the difference lies--my studies were a few years later, I think, but not many (I graduated in 2001). My professors talked about how when they were in school, discussing authorship--anything about the personal lives of the artists--was frowned upon. Maybe your school had a different philosophy of art history from mine. The 90s (as you remember) were also a time of such rapid change in queer theory, both popular and academic.
--you want to see a good one, check out Donatello's version of David.
I had a paragraph in here that I ended up cutting for length about how I learned everything having to do with the private lives of straighter male artists--Picasso's womanizing, Van Gogh's prostitute, Gauguin's teen wives and his syphillis—but not that half of the Italian renaissance was queer!
But I actually graduated in 1993, so quite a bit earlier as these things go, and my school was super traditional and far from the cutting edge on anything, so I'm not terribly surprised. I like to think the classes would be more encompassing now, but who knows? Some ships are very slow to adjust course (sigh).
This is so interesting, and beautiful. I knew little of this. And this last line nails it: Because queerness is not only our history, it is also our humanity.
this article pop in my google search because i was searching for some specific info- that i did find but your way of writing is so engaging and neat that i ended up reading the whole thing. Thank you for gathering all this info and putting it in this coherent article, it was very insightful
Interestingly, I also have an undergraduate degree in art history and we talked about this stuff... a lot. I will nder where the difference lies--my studies were a few years later, I think, but not many (I graduated in 2001). My professors talked about how when they were in school, discussing authorship--anything about the personal lives of the artists--was frowned upon. Maybe your school had a different philosophy of art history from mine. The 90s (as you remember) were also a time of such rapid change in queer theory, both popular and academic.
--you want to see a good one, check out Donatello's version of David.
That is so interesting!
I had a paragraph in here that I ended up cutting for length about how I learned everything having to do with the private lives of straighter male artists--Picasso's womanizing, Van Gogh's prostitute, Gauguin's teen wives and his syphillis—but not that half of the Italian renaissance was queer!
But I actually graduated in 1993, so quite a bit earlier as these things go, and my school was super traditional and far from the cutting edge on anything, so I'm not terribly surprised. I like to think the classes would be more encompassing now, but who knows? Some ships are very slow to adjust course (sigh).
And YES, Donatello's David--SO queer. Camp, even!
(If anyone wants to see: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_%28Donatello%29)
Thanks for weighing in! So interesting to hear your experience. Where were you at school?
This is so interesting, and beautiful. I knew little of this. And this last line nails it: Because queerness is not only our history, it is also our humanity.
this article pop in my google search because i was searching for some specific info- that i did find but your way of writing is so engaging and neat that i ended up reading the whole thing. Thank you for gathering all this info and putting it in this coherent article, it was very insightful
Thanks so much for your kind words. I appreciate it!