Adolphe Disderi
Rosa Bonheur and Familly,1863
Albuman print
3.37 x 2.08"
Collection LLGAF.
Donated by George Dudley.

Lesbian Artists at Leslie/Lohman

By Tom Saettel

The Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation was established to give a venue to gay and lesbian artists.* The name of the Foundation was formed during a euphoric period when “gay” encompassed lesbians and gay men.

The Foundation has shown lesbian art throughout its history. Preceding the inception of the Foundation, Fritz Lohman and Charles Leslie mounted many lesbian exhibitions in the original Leslie/Lohman Gallery at Wooster and Broome Sts. including Marion Pinto, Sandy Desando and Roberta Raeburn.

During the Foundation’s 16 years lesbians have appeared in 53 of the 142 exhibitions mounted. Lesbians have been included in 10 Photo Biennials at the Foundation. Claudette Buelow, Szu Burgess, Prini Alavi, Diana T. Di Palma and Maxine Fine contributed to these exhibitions, to name a few. Lesbian Biennials were held in 1993, ‘95, ‘97, ‘99, and 2002.

More recently, the Foundation has hosted 5 lesbian exhibitions. In Nov.-Dec. 2004, Marry Me, the lesbian benefit exhibition, featured 33 artists, including Barbara Hammer, Monica Misslbeck, Jane Rosett and Stanne. The Lesbian Art Acquisition Fund was inaugurated with this event. May-June 2005 witnessed 21st Century Queer Women, with work by Susan Synarski, Lorell Butler and Lorraine Inzalaco. Erotic Adornment, Mar.-Apr. 2005, presented the work of Meadow and Tanka. The photography of Leah Michaelson was showcased in Love Unravels, also Mar.-Apr. 2005. The Paintings of Sonia Melara were on view Nov.-Dec. 2005. Additionally, lesbians contributed to Allure, Sept.-Oct. 2004.

Artists exhibiting at the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation are encouraged to donate a work to the Foundation’s permanent collection. These additions help fill out the picture of gay and lesbian art which the collection represents and preserves. Marry Me alone added 43 works to the permanent collection. The collection houses work by Rolande, Tee A. Corrine, Harmony Hammond, Prini Alavi, and Avital Greenberg among many others.

One of the Foundation’s prize holdings is a small photo of Rosa Bonheur and her family. The studio portrait by male photographer Adolphe Disderi from 1863 captures the strength of this courageous 19th century lesbian artist (1822-1899.) Rosa Bonheur has become a role model for lesbian artists. She developed a successful career as an artist in a then male-dominated field, exhibiting her monumental paintings and her sculpture in France and England. French Academy training was barred to her as a woman—she was trained by her father, a landscape painter—but she did exhibit in the French Academy Salons from 1841 to 1853. She was the first woman to receive a cross of the Legion of Honor in France, a reward for outstanding achievement in her field. The honor was bestowed upon her personally by the Empress Eugenie, wife of emperor Napoleon III, in June 1865. The empress wanted to show, as she said, that “genius has no sex.” New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art houses 3 of her major works. Her famous painting, The Horse Fair, ca. 1852, has been on view at the Met for many years, a gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Leslie/Lohman has reviewed work by numerous lesbian artists, but in our view clearly not enough. We are always in search of high calibre lesbian artists. A few lesbian artists we have in mind to exhibit await the proper slot. The Foundation is very proud of the lesbian contribution to our endeavor and the lesbian holdings in our permanent collection.

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*The Foundation occasionally exhibits work of men and women who are not gay but whose work speaks directly to a gay or lesbian sensibility.