What Is Queer Art? Haring, Hockney, and Many More!

What Is Queer Art?

There are plenty of artworks we look at and say “That is meant to be a queer artwork“. There are museums dedicated to and galleries filled with art that has been deemed queer by society or the artist. Jennifer Doyle draws attention to one example—the print by Andy Warhol—emphasizing that the inherent “queerness” of works like Sex Parts is not contingent on external validation but rather their rightful place adorning the walls of local gay bars, inherently imbuing them with a queer essence.

Part of a Larger Study

Ultimately, discussing queer art means diving into many different areas of study within art history: feminist theory, cinema studies, and social and literary theories to name a few. As Jennifer Doyle says in her piece, titled Queer Wallpaper, the function of the word “queer” in writing about art is hard to pin down. And it very much is.

It is a combination of all the aforementioned questions that make it so. Doyle signifies that it is actually the culture and things “that can come with being gay and lesbian, with being a member of a lesbian and gay community” and is rather not meant to specify the sexual identity of the artist or the audience. In fact, it is much more open to interpretation than one might believe.

The Artists and the Art

For as many definitions of queer art that exist, there are just as many artists. And because the fluctuating acceptance of the word has varied with time, it is difficult to choose just a few works of art to discuss. With that in mind, however, there are a couple below that you might find interesting and worth studying further.

Keith Haring’s Queer Art

There are multiple articles on Keith Haring in our magazine. However, it is crucial to highlight the profound significance of his art within queer communities. The two featured artworks presented below encapsulate a vital facet of the LGBTQ+ community, specifically addressing the harrowing impact of AIDS, particularly prevalent during the 1980s. Haring, along with his circle of friends, personally endured the devastating effects of this epidemic. Given the pervasive stigma surrounding AIDS and the gay community at that time, Haring’s art resonates powerfully, serving as a poignant testament to the struggles and resilience of these marginalized voices.

David Hockney’s California Obsession

Another well-known artist, David Hockney went through a period in which he focused heavily on pools. During his time in Los Angeles, beginning in the 1960s, Hockney fell in love with the city and what he once called “the promised land.”

His LA paintings are filled with sunlight and a dream-like quality of bright colors that reflected the allure of Hollywood to the young artist. However, the painting below represents more than just that. Hockney takes a familiar scene in art, that of bathing, something seen in many paintings, and turns it into something more akin to the symbol of sunny California and the burgeoning sexual freedoms and changing social norms of the 1960s.

Simeon Solomon’s Biblical Paintings

The story of Simeon Solomon (1840–1905) is rather an obscure one compared to other well-known artists on this same page. While Oscar Wilde called him “that strange genius,” Alfred Werner summed his life up in a scholarly article titled The Sad Ballad of Simeon Solomon.

The Jewish artist’s work was heavily influenced by the Bible and the Pre-Raphaelites; he was able to find a niche for both during his life, filling his oeuvre with both subjects. Although his popularity ebbed and flowed over the course of his career, the artist tended to remain true to his ideals, even after several arrests due to homosexual acts.

The depicted painting portrays three young men in a gentle and tender manner. As two of the figures slumber, seemingly intertwined with one another, the third remains vigilant. The subject matter and theme poignantly allude to the clandestine nature of homosexuality prevalent in England during that period.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s Brothel Paintings

Another well-known artist is the Post-Impressionist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. But again, some of his art is labeled as “queer” based on the subject matter and theme. The below painting of two women in bed kissing is a popular artwork that has been commercially reproduced over the years. The French artist openly painted sex workers and their reality.

Gustave Courbet’s Entangled Women

The particular painting shown below was painted specifically for Khalil-Bey, a Turkish diplomat. The emissary also owned Courbet’s The Origin of the World, a close-up painting of a woman’s genitalia surrounded by a thigh, and parts of her torso and breasts. In The Sleepers, two women are entangled on a bed, sleeping in a sensual manner reminiscent of Courbet’s interest in erotic Realism.

Marie Høeg and Bolette Berg’s Photography

This pair of photographers worked in the sea town of Horton, Norway, gaining popularity with their various types of local photographs which they turned into postcards. Norway’s National Museum of Photography, the Preus Museum, has a multitude of glass negatives. A carton of personal photographs was found in the collection, which seems to show at least Høeg bucking the cultural norms for women during the time.

The Future of Queer Art

As long as the definitions of and acceptance of queerness keeps changing, the nature of queer art will change as well, broadening our horizons on the meaning of the word. Through social media and the internet, we have much easier access to queer art from which we can draw and study. Current modern artists such as the German Hannah Roemer, photographer Naima Green, or painter Salman Toor, build on past centuries and decades of art to bring more and more types of queer art to the forefront of the art world, and to bring a voice to still marginalized parts of society.