Mapplethorpe's Muse (see p. 269)
Lucie-Smith does not dwell overly-much on homosexuality in his book, but when he does he makes very short, pithy readings that contain a great deal of sense. I think it is particularly significant that he ends his book by considering gay male art of the 1980s and early 90s, by which time it had ridden both the aesthetic of the "liberal establishment" and "libertarian protests against the repression of sexuality" to great fame, but perhaps only truly found the sublime once again during the AIDS crisis. Generalizing powerfully off gay male art engaged with AIDS, Lucie-Smith concludes the book with the implication the themes of sex and death, and their particular relationship to each other, are what really distinguish "Western attitudes from their counterparts in other cultures."
Takes 2 and 3, Coming up next time:
Cooper, Emmanuel. The sexual perspective : homosexuality and art in the last 100 years in the West. 2nd ed. London ;;New York: Routledge, 1994.
Rubin, David, and Contemporary Arts Center (New Orleans, La.);Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation. The culture of queer : a tribute to J.B. Harter. New Orleans: Contemporary Arts Center, 2005.
No comments:
Post a Comment