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Exhibition The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939 Gallery Wrightwood 659

The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939 United States

Exhibition Details

PRESS KIT
Date
May 02, 2025 to Jul 26, 2025
Location
United States
Contact
anne@anneedgar.com
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  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Photo Credit: George Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Alice Austen, The Darned Club, 1891, Original glass plate negative, 4 x 5 in, Collection of Historic Richmond Town.
    Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wrightwood 659
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Installation view of The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939, at Wrightwood 659, 2025
    Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wrightwood 659
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Ludwig von Hofmann, Nude Fishermen and Boys on Green Shore, c. 1900, Oil on canvas, 142.5 x 204.5 cm, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig.
    Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wrightwood 659
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Ida Matton, La Confidence (The Secret), 1902, Plaster, 65 x 56 cm, Photo: Joel Bergroth / Hälsinglands Museum.
    Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wrightwood 659
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Tomioka Eisen, kuchi-e (frontispiece) with artist's seal Shisen, c. 1906, Woodblock print, 23.2 x 31.6 cm, Tirey-van Lohuizen Collection.
    Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wrightwood 659
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Félix Vallotton, Gertrude Stein, 1907, Oil on canvas, 108.6 x 91.4 cm (framed), The Baltimore Museum of Art: The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland, BMA 1950.300. Photo by: Mitro Hood.
    Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wrightwood 659
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Marie Laurencin, Le bal élégant or La danse à la campagne (The Elegant Ball, or The Country Dance), 1913, Oil on canvas, 112 x 144 cm, Musée Marie Laurencin, Tokyo.
    Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wrightwood 659
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Saturnino Herrán, Nuestros dioses antiguos, 1916, Oil on canvas, 101 x 112 cm, Colección Andrés Blaisten, México.
    Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wrightwood 659
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Elisàr von Kupffer, La danza, 1918, Oil on canvas with painted frame, 197 x 99 cm (framed). © Municipality of Minusio - Centro Elisarion; Claudio Berger – photographer.
    Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wrightwood 659
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Romaine Brooks, Self-Portrait, 1923, Oil on canvas, 46 1/4 x 26 7/8 in. (117.5 x 68.3 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1966.49.1.
    Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wrightwood 659
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Tamara de Lempicka, Nu assis de profil, 1923, Oil on canvas, 81.2 x 54 cm, Döpfner Collection, Germany. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
    Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wrightwood 659
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Installation view of The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939, at Wrightwood 659, 2025
    Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wrightwood 659
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Installation view of The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939, at Wrightwood 659, 2025
    Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wrightwood 659
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.
  • The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939
    Installation view of The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939, at Wrightwood 659, 2025
    Photo Credit: Courtesy of Wrightwood 659
    Photo CreditGeorge Catlin, Dance to the Berdash, 1835-1837, Oil on canvas, 49.6 x 70 cm, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.442.

Exhibition Details

PRESS KIT
CURATOR(S) Jonathan D. Katz Johnny Willis

The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939, a major international loan exhibition which has been six years in the making, will be presented by Alphawood Exhibitions at Wrightwood 659 in Chicago, from Friday, May 2, to Saturday, July 26, 2025.
 The exhibition features more than 300 paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints, photographs, and films, many presented for the first time within the context of global queer and colonial inquiry. These range from well-known masterpieces to unexpected works by little-known or anonymous artists. Drawn from over 100 museums and private collections around the world, the exhibition takes as its starting point the year 1869—when the term “homosexual” is first coined and proceeds through the subsequent seven decades, amplified by a selection of earlier art, as context.
  

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CURATOR(S)
Jonathan D. Katz
Johnny Willis