Art and Homosexuality
A History of Ideas

A comprehensive and lavishly illustrated exploration of the relationship between art and homosexuality. This is the first book of its kind, a provocative, globe-spanning narrative history that considers the fascinating reciprocity between gay sexuality and art from the ancient world to today.

This highly readable volume challenges the ideas of many prominent art critics and punctures the platitudes surrounding discussions of both art and sexuality. The book discusses what it means to be an insider and outsider, how sexuality came to define one's fundamental humanity, and what people risk (and gain) in rejecting economic and social conformity. Reed shows that many of the core ideas that define modern thought more generally are nearly indecipherable without an understanding of this pairing. The debates that have surrounded artists and homosexuals in effect capture the dramatic history of the evolution of the modern mind.

1. VARIETIES OF 'HOMOSEXUALITY'
VARIETIES OF 'ART'. INITIATORY HOMOSEXUALITY: THE 'SAMBIA' OF NEW GUINEA &
ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME. GENDER-TRANSCENDENT HOMOSEXUALITY: POLYNESIA &
NORTH AMERICA. PERFORMATIVE HOMOSEXUALITY: TOKUGAWA JAPAN
2. BEFORE MODERNITY. EARLY CHRISTIAN AND MEDIEVAL EUROPE. THE RENAISSANCE. 17TH- AND 18TH-CENTURY EUROPE
3. INVENTING THE MODERN: ART AND SEXUAL IDENTITY IN THE LATE- NINETEENTH CENTURY. IMAGERY AT MID-CENTURY. INVENTING THE AVANT-GARDE. ARTISTS AT MID-CENTURY. THE MODERN ARTIST AS HOMOSEXUAL. AESTHETES AND ART JOURNALS
4. SECRETS AND SUBCULTURES, 1900-1940. ECHOES OF AESTHETICISM. AVANT-GARDE CONTINGENTS. SEXUALITY AND RACE. STRATEGIES OF CODING: ABSTRACTION AND SYMBOLS. THE LIMITS OF THE AVANT-GARDE. THE AVANT-GARDE AND THE OPEN SECRET. THE OPEN SECRET AND MASS CULTURE
5. THE SHORT TRIUMPH OF THE MODERN: 1940-1965. EXPRESSION AND REPRESSION IN POST-WAR ART. POPULAR IMAGERY, POP ART, AND THE ORIGINS OF POSTMODERNISM. CAMP AND CRITICISM
6. THE AVANT-GARDE AND ACTIVISM: 1965-1982. ART VS. POLITICS. FEMINISTS, LESBIANS, AND FEMALE SENSIBILITY. IDENTITY AND SENSIBILITY
7. THE AIDS DECADE: 1982-1992. AIDS AND THE AVANT-GARDE. AIDS, ACTIVISM, AND VISUAL CULTURE. HOMOPHOBIA AND VISUAL CULTURE
8. QUEER AND BEYOND. QUEER. FRAGMENTATION FROM WITHIN. PRESSURE FROM WITHOUT. WORKING THROUGH DIFFERENCE: THE BLACK MALE NUDE