Queer Modernism: 1900–1950

Desire, eroticism, playing with gender – these qualities in the works of queer artists are not regarded here as external to the creative process, but rather as foundational. By approaching the art through a perspective of queer aesthetics, the aim is to discover the visual worlds of hitherto little-known figures of international Modernism, from Eastern and Western Europe and from North and South America.

Experimenting with alternative lifestyles is reflected in new visual languages, perspectives, and a different aesthetic. “Modern utopias of abolishing the gender binary,” “Queer avant-gardes” and “The potential in queer readings of abstraction” are only some of the compelling topics presented in this volume, which also recounts the history of queer lives during war, persecution, and resistance.

Artists: Natalie Clifford Barney, Richmond Barthé, Rosa Bonheur, Romaine Brooks, Til Brugman, Paul Cadmus, Claude Cahun, Heinrich Campendonk, Jean Cocteau, Ithell Colquhoun, Nils Dardel, Beauford Delaney, Leonor Fini, Gluck, Hannah Hoch, Ludwig von Hofmann, Valentine Hugo, Robin Ironside, Lotte Laserstein, Marie Laurencin, George Platt Lynes, Maria Martins, Marcel Moore, Marlow Moss, Ismael Nery, Richard Bruce Nugent, Meret Oppenheim, Milena Pavlovic-Barili, Glyn Warren Philpot, Gregorio Prieto, Anton Prinner, Sonja Sekula, Florine Stettheimer, Pavel Tchelitchew, Toyen, Paule Vezeley, Ethel Walker, Nicolaas Warb, Gerda Wegener, Irene Zurkinden.

About the Author

Susanne Gaensheimer is director of the K20K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf.

Anke Kempkes is active internationally as a curator, art historian, author and lecturer.

Isabelle Malz is an art historian and curator of the K20K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf.