Homoeroticism refers to the representation of same-sex love and desire, most especially as it is depicted or manifested in the visual arts and literature. The visual arts are art forms that focus on the creation of works which are primarily Visual in nature such as Painting, Photography Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter It can also be found in performative forms; from theatre to the theatricality of uniformed movements (e. g. , the Wandervogel and Gemeinschaft der Eigenen). Wandervogel is the name adopted by a popular movement of German Youth groups from 1896 onward Adolf Brand (1874-1945 was a German Writer, anarchist and pioneering Campaigner for the acceptance of male Homosexuality. Homoeroticism thus differs from the interpersonal homoerotic; because homoeroticism is a set of artistic and performative traditions, in which such feelings can be embodied in culture and thus expressed into the wider society.
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Arguments over classifications and labelling
The term "homoerotic" carries with it the weight of modern classifications of love and desire that some contenddid not exist in previous eras. Homosexuality as we know it today was not fully codified until the mid-20th century, though this process began much earlier:
Following in the tradition of [Michel] Foucault, scholars such as Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and David Halperin have argued that various Victorian public discourses, notably the psychiatric and the legal, fostered a designation or invention of the "homosexual" as a distinct category of individuals, a category solidified by the publications of sexologists such as Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902) and Havelock Ellis (1859-1939), sexologists who provided an almost-pathological interpretation of the phenomenon in rather Essentialist terms, an interpretation that led, before 1910, to hundreds of articles on the subject in The Netherlands, Germany, and elsewhere. Homosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a Homosexual orientation. One result of this burgeoning discourse was that the "homosexual" was often portrayed as a corrupter of the innocent, with a predisposition towards both depravity and paederasty — a necessary portrayal if Late-Victorian and Edwardian sexologists were to account for the continuing existence of the "paederast" in a world that had suddenly become bountiful in "homosexuals. " (Kaylor, Secreted Desires, p. 33)
Despite an ever-changing and evolving set of modern classifications, members of the same sex often formed intimate associations (many of which were erotic as well as emotional) on their own terms, most notably in the "romantic friendships" documented in the letters and papers of 18th- and 19th- century men and women (see Rictor Norton, ed. The term romantic friendship refers to a very close but non- Sexual relationship between friends often involving a degree of physical closeness beyond , My Dear Boy: Gay Love Letters through the Centuries, Gay Sunshine Press, 1998). These romantic friendships, which may or may not have included genital sex, were characterized by passionate emotional attachments and what modern thinkers would consider homoerotic overtones.
Notable examples in the visual arts
Male-male
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Male-male examples, in the visual fine arts, range through history: Ancient Greek vase art; Roman wine goblets (The Warren Cup). The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC The Warren Cup is a unique Silver Roman Skyphos (or drinking cup featuring two representations of homoerotic sexual acts Several Italian Renaissance artists are thought to have had homosexual inclinations, and homoerotic appreciation of the male body has been identified by critics in works by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci ( April 15 1452 – May 2 1519 was an Italian Polymath, having been a scientist Mathematician, Engineer Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni Two biographies were published of him during his lifetime One of them by Giorgio Vasari, proposed that he was the pinnacle of all More explicit sexual imagery occurring in the Mannerist and Tenebrist styles of the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in arists such as Agnolo Bronzino, Carlo Saraceni and Caravaggio, whose works were sometimes severely criticised by the Catholic church. Mannerism is a period of European art which emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. Tenebrism, from the Italian tenebroso ("murky" (also called dramatic illumination is a style of Painting using violent contrasts of Light Agnolo di Cosimo ( November 17, 1503 &ndash November 23, 1572) usually known as Il Bronzino, or Agnolo Bronzino (mistaken Carlo Saraceni ( Venice 1579-Venice 16 June 1620) was an Italian early- Baroque painter whose reputation as a "first-class Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, usually just known as Caravaggio, (28 September 1571 – 18 July 1610 was an Italian Artist active in Rome [2]
Many 19th Century history paintings of classical characters such as Hyacinth, Ganymede and Narcissus can also be interpreted as homoerotic; the work of late 19th century artists (such as Thomas Eakins, Eugene Jansson, Henry Scott Tuke and Magnus Enckell); through to the modern work of fine artists such as Paul Cadmus and Gilbert & George. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar History painting, as formulated in 1667 by André Félibien, a historiographer architect and theoretician of French Classicism, was in the Hierarchy In Greek mythology, Hyacinth or Hyacinthus (in Greek, Ὑάκινθος &mdash Hyakinthos) was a divine hero the son of Greek mythology, Narcissus, Narkissos or The Self-Admirer (Νάρκισσος was a Hero of the territory of Thespiae in Boeotia Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins ( July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was a realist painter, Photographer, sculptor Henry Scott Tuke, RA ( 12 June 1858 &ndash 13 March 1929) a British painter and photographer is best remembered Magnus Knut Enckell ( November 9, 1870 - November 27, 1925) was a Finnish painter. Paul Cadmus ( December 17, 1904 - December 12, 1999) was an artist born in New York City. Gilbert Prousch (often misspelled as Proesch) (born in San Martin (San Martino, Italy, September Fine art photographers such as Wilhelm von Gloeden, David Hockney, Will McBride, Robert Mapplethorpe, Pierre et Gilles, Bernard Faucon, Anthony Goicolea have also made a strong contribution, Mapplethorpe and McBride being notably in breaking down barriers of gallery censorship and braving legal challenges. Fine art photography refers to photographs that are created to fulfill the creative vision of the artist Wilhelm von Gloeden ( September 16, 1856 &ndash February 16, 1931) was a German Photographer who worked mainly in David Hockney, CH, RA, (born 9 July 1937 is an English Artist, based in Los Angeles California, United States Will McBride (born 1931 St Louis, Missouri) is a photographer in reportage, Art photography and Book illustration. Robert Mapplethorpe ( November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American Photographer, known for his large-scale highly Pierre et Gilles, Pierre Commoy and Gilles Blanchard, are gay French Artistic and romantic partners Bernard Faucon (born 1950 is a French photographer and writer Anthony Goicolea (born 1971 is a New York -based fine art photographer, born in Atlanta Georgia. James Bidgood and Arthur Tress were also very important pioneers in the 1960s, radically moving homoerotic photography away from simple documentary and into areas that were more akin to fine-art surrealism. James Bidgood may refer to James Bidgood (Australian politician James Bidgood (filmmaker Arthur Tress is a notable American photographer born on November 24 1940 in Brooklyn, New York.
Female-female
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For more details on this topic, see Lesbianism in erotica. Depictions of Lesbianism have been relatively common in Erotic art and Pornography throughout history
Female-female examples are most historically noticeable in the narrative arts: the archaic lyrics of Sappho; The Songs of Bilitis; novels such as those of Christa Winsloe, Colette, Radclyffe Hall, and Jane Rule, and films such as Mädchen in Uniform. Sappho (ˈsæfoʊ in English Attic Greek el Σαπφώ sapːʰɔː Aeolic Greek el Ψάπφω) was an Ancient Greek lyric The Songs of Bilitis /bɪ’litis/ ( Les Chansons de Bilitis; Paris 1894 is a collection of erotic poetry by Pierre Louÿs (1870-1925 Christa Winsloe (1888-1944 was a 20th century German Novelist, Playwright and sculptor best known for her play Gestern und heute, filmed in Colette was the pen name of the French Novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette ( January 28 1873 &ndash August 3 Radclyffe Hall (August 12 1880 - October 7 1943 (born Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall) was an English poet and author of eight novels including the Lesbian classic Jane Vance Rule, CM, OBC ( March 28, 1931 &ndash November 27, 2007) was a Canadian writer of Lesbian Mädchen in Uniform ( 1931, 89 minutes 16 mm) is a German feature-length film based on a Novel by Christa Winsloe More recently, lesbian homoeroticism has flowered in photography and the writing of authors such as Pat Califia and Jeanette Winterson. Patrick Califia (formerly known as Pat Califia) born 1954 near Corpus Christi Texas) is a Writer about sexuality and of Erotic Jeanette Winterson OBE (born August 27, 1959) is a British novelist
Female homoerotic art by lesbian artists has often been less culturally prominent than the presentation of lesbian eroticism by non-lesbians and for a primarily non-lesbian audience. In the west, this can be seen as long ago as the 1872 novel Carmilla, and is also seen in cinema in such popular movies as Emmanuelle, The Hunger, Showgirls, and most of all in pornography. " Carmilla " is a Gothic novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. This article is primarily about the official Emmanuelle films for Emanuelle, see also Black Emanuelle. The Hunger is a 1983 English language Horror film. It is the story of a bizarre Love triangle between a doctor ( Susan Sarandon Showgirls is a 1995 film directed by Paul Verhoeven, starring former teen actress Elizabeth Berkley as a drifter who Depictions of Lesbianism have been relatively common in Erotic art and Pornography throughout history In the east, especially Japan, lesbianism is the subject of the manga subgenre shojo-ai. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. ˈmɑŋgə is the Japanese word for Comics (sometimes called komikku コミック and print Cartoons In their modern form manga date from shortly also known by the Wasei-eigo construction, It is unclear whether this was the first instance of this usage of the term
In many texts in the English-speaking world, lesbians have been presented as intensely sexual but also predatory and dangerous (the characters are often vampires) and the primacy of heterosexuality is usually re-asserted at the story's end. This shows the difference between homoeroticism as a product of the wider culture and homosexual art produced by gay men and women.
Notable examples in writing
There is also a strong tradition of homoeroticism in poetry.
The male-male erotic tradition contains poems by major poets such as Abu Nuwas, Walt Whitman, Federico García Lorca, W. H. Auden, Fernando Pessoa and Allen Ginsberg. Abu-Nuwas al-Hasan ben Hani al-Hakami ( 750 &ndash 810) known as Abū-Nuwās ( Arabic: ابونواس) was one of the greatest of classical Walter Whitman (May 31 1819 &ndash March 26 1892 was an American poet, Essayist journalist, and humanist. Federico García Lorca' ( 5 June 1898 &ndash 19 August 1936) was a Spanish Poet and dramatist also remembered as Wystan Hugh Auden (21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973 ˈwɪstən ˈhjuː ˈɔːdən who signed his works W Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa (fɨɾˈnɐ̃du pɨˈsoɐ (b Irwin Allen Ginsberg (ˈgɪnzbɝg (June 3 1926 &ndash April 5 1997 was an American Poet.
Elisar von Kupffer's Lieblingminne und Freundesliebe in der Weltlitteratur (1900) and Edward Carpenter's Ioläus: An Anthology of Friendship (1902) were the first known notable attempts at homoerotic anthologies since The Greek Anthology. Elisar von Kupffer (1872 in Tallinn, Estonia – 1942 was an artist anthologist poet historian translator and playwright Year 1900 ( MCM) was an exceptional Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar Also see Ed Carpenter. Edward Carpenter ( 29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English Year 1902 ( MCMII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Straton of Sardis (aka Strato) was a Greek poet and anthologist from the Lydian city of Sardis. Since then, many anthologies have been published.
In the female-female tradition, there are poets such as Sappho, "Michael Field", and Maureen Duffy. Sappho (ˈsæfoʊ in English Attic Greek el Σαπφώ sapːʰɔː Aeolic Greek el Ψάπφω) was an Ancient Greek lyric Michael Field was a Pseudonym used for the Poetry and Verse drama of Katherine Harris Bradley (1846 - 1914 and her niece and ward Edith Maureen Patricia Duffy (b 1933 in Worthing, Sussex) is a contemporary British Poet, Playwright and Novelist. Emily Dickinson addressed a number of poems and letters with homoerotic overtones to her sister-in-law Susan Huntington Gilbert.
Letters can also be potent conveyors of homoerotic feelings; the letters between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, two well-known members of the Bloomsbury Group, are full of homoerotic overtones characterized by this excerpt from Vita's letter to Virginia: "I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia [. (Adeline Virginia Woolf (née Stephen; 25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941 was an English Novelist and Essayist, regarded as one of the foremost Victoria Mary Sackville-West The Hon Lady Nicolson, CH ( March 9, 1892 &ndash June 2, 1962) best known as Vita Sackville-West The Bloomsbury Group was an English collectivity of loving friends and relatives who lived in or near London during the first half of the twentieth century . . ] It is incredible to me how essential you have become [. . . ] I shan't make you love me anymore by I shan't make you love me any the more by giving myself away like this --But oh my dear, I can't be clever and stand-offish with you: I love you too much for that. " (January 21, 1926)
In cinema
Most notable are positive portrayals of homoerotic feelings in relationships, made at feature length and for theatrical exhibition, and made by those who are same-sex oriented. Successful examples would be: Mädchen in Uniform, Germany (1931); The Leather Boys, UK (1964); The Naked Civil Servant, UK (1975); My Beautiful Laundrette, UK (1985); Maurice, UK (1985); Summer Vacation 1999, Japan, 1988;Germany, New Zealand and the U. Mädchen in Uniform ( 1931, 89 minutes 16 mm) is a German feature-length film based on a Novel by Christa Winsloe The Leather Boys is a 1964 British Drama film showing a Biker gang which had in it a gay member The Naked Civil Servant is the first volume of an Autobiography by the Gay icon Quentin Crisp. My Beautiful Laundrette is a 1985 film directed by Stephen Frears. Maurice is a 1987 film based on the novel of the same title by E S. A. , (2003); and most recently Brokeback Mountain, U. Brokeback Mountain ( 2005) is a romantic - Drama film that depicts the complex romantic and sexual relationship between two men in the S. A. (2005). Also of note is the feature-length BBC adaptation of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, UK (1989). Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit was a critically acclaimed 1990 BBC television drama mini-series directed by Beeban Kidron. Still, however, films are made with less apparent homoerotic undertones (versus the homoerotic overtones in movies like Brokeback Mountain), such as in the screen adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel Fight Club. Brokeback Mountain ( 2005) is a romantic - Drama film that depicts the complex romantic and sexual relationship between two men in the Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk (ˈpɑːlənɪk born February 21 1962) is an American Transgressional fiction Novelist Fight Club is a 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk, chronicling the experiences of an anonymous Protagonist who is struggling with a growing discomfort
See: List of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related films. IMPORTANT!!!! Please note If you add a movie to this list please add it to the List of lesbian gay bisexual or transgender-related films by year article as well
Key introductory books
Classical and medieval literature:
- Murray & Roscoe. Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History, and Literature. (1997).
- J. W. Wright. Homoeroticism in Classical Arabic Literature (1997).
- Rictor Norton. Dr Rictor Norton (born 1945 is an American scholar of literary and cultural history particularly gay history The Homosexual Literary Tradition. (1974). (Greek, Roman & Elizabethan England).
Literature after 1850:
- David Leavitt. David Leavitt (born June 23, 1961) is an American novelist Biography Born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Leavitt is a graduate Pages Passed from Hand to Hand : The Hidden Tradition of Homosexual Literature in English from 1748 to 1914. (1998).
- Timothy d'Arch Smith. Love In Earnest; some notes on the lives and writings of English 'Uranian' poets from 1889 to 1930. (1970).
- Michael Matthew Kaylor, Secreted Desires: The Major Uranians: Hopkins, Pater and Wilde (2006), a 500-page scholarly volume that considers the major Victorian writers of Uranian poetry and prose (the author has made this volume available in a free, open-access, PDF version).
- Mark Lilly. Gay Men's Literature in the Twentieth Century. (1993).
- Patricia Juliana Smith. Lesbian Panic: Homoeroticism in Modern British Women's Fiction. (1997).
- Gregory Woods. Articulate Flesh - male homoeroticism and modern poetry. (1989). (USA poets).
- Vita Sackville-West. Louise De Salvo, Mitchell A. Leaska, editors. Vita Sackville-West The Letters of Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf (1985)
- Virginia Woolf. Congenial Spirits: The Selected Letters of Virginia Woolf Joanne Trautmann Banks, editor. (Harcourt Brace, 1991)
Visual arts:
- Jonathan Weinberg. Male Desire: The Homoerotic in American Art (2005).
- James M. Saslow. Pictures and Passions: A History of Homosexuality in the Visual Arts. (1999).
- Allen Ellenzweig. The Homoerotic Photograph: Male Images, Delacroix to Mapplethorpe. (1992).
- Thomas Waugh. Hard to Imagine: Gay Male Eroticism in Photography and Film from Their Beginnings to Stonewall. (1996).
- Emmanuel Cooper. The Sexual Perspective: Homosexuality and Art in the Last 100 Years in the West. (1994).
- Claude J. Summers (editor). The Queer Encyclopedia of the Visual Arts. (2004).
- Harmony Hammond. Lesbian Art in America: A Contemporary History. (2000). (Post-1968 only)
- Laura Doan. Fashioning Sapphism: The Origins of a Modern English Lesbian Culture. (2001). (Post-WW1 in England)
See also
References
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