Butch in Progress

Berencie Abbott (1898-1991) - Lesbian Portraits

[B] It’s monday night and therefore most definetly time to introduce another lesbian photographer. Right?

Berencie Abbott is most known for her photographs of New York’s cityscape, but especially in the context of queer history and aesthetics her portraits of lesbian and bisexuals left a lasting impression. The portraits here show Gwen Le Gallienne, Jane Heap (my personal favorite), Janet Flanner, Solita Solano and last but not least Sylvia Beach.

To fulfill everyones desire for lesbian gossip, Berencie Abbott had a relationship with Thelma Wood and Tylia Perlmutter.

Pulp Cut Attack

[K] I never would have expected there actually is a way to make pulp novel covers even more entertaining … but innovative cutting and deep focus seems to do the trick (I’m tempted to make a film-nerdy Citizen Cane joke, but I guess that’s now why you’re here.) Can I make a request for a cut-out-version of Satan was a Lesbian?

Photography and awesomeness by: Thomas Allen.

(Source: golberz.com)

Frances Benjamin Johnston - Early uber queer self-portraits

[B] Frances Benjamin Johnston was one of the earliest female photographers. Her first camera was given to her byGeorge Eastman, the man you actually invented the Kodak camera. She’s well known for her work as photojournalist, White House photographer and her awesome uber queer selfportraits. The most famous definetly is the second one:

Her famous self-portrait (ca 1896) seated with her skirt pulled up, crossed legs exposed, smoking a cigarette and grasping a beer stein was her radical take on the concept of the “New Woman” being touted in contemporary literature. (Source)

Despite her work as photographer she published an article called”What a Woman Can Do With a Camera” and served as a curator of the Paris Exposition of 1900. Romantically, she was linked toMattie Edwards Hewitt, also a well-known photographer.

Gay Gabrielle

[B] I’m sorry to say this Gabrielle, but we already know.

Tee A. Corinne

[B] Tee A. Corinne is definetly one of the most famous out lesbian photographer. She was born in 1943 and died in 2006. Her work includes drawings, essays and poems, but she’s mostly known for her huge and explicit body of photographs.

She was a revolutionary, she did what no one had done before her – she made erotic art for lesbians from a lesbian perspective. (Source)

The photographs you see here are from her series Yantras of Womanlove and show abstract images of lesbian sexuality. If you’re interested in some more photographs of her you should check out the website of the Leslie Lohman Museum of Lesbian and Gay Art.

Alice’s Wonder Land

[K] Alice Austen (1866-1952): one of America’s first female photographers and long overdue to be mentioned on this blog, because the lady was a badass. Not only did she take quasi-photojournalistic pictures of not just her family and friends, but also the city of New York before most of the rest of the world thought of using the new medium like that, she also defied Victorian ideals of womanhood throughout her life - and dared documenting it. Instead of taking pictures of flowers and “womanly stuff”, Austen documented the city life and the life of what today might becalled ‘gender outlaws’, instead of being an “angel of the house”, she spent her time travelling (as well as playing tennis, cycling, hiking etc) and following her passion for photography, and instead of choosing a fake marriage, she lived with a woman - Getrude Tate. 

The couple met in 1899  - though it took another 18 years before Tate moved in with Austen. The two women lived and work together, supported each other until poverty forced Tate to go back to her family. Their wish to be buried together was sadly denied by the surviving relatives. Yet at least professionaly, Austen’s life offered a happy ending: shortly before her death, her work was rediscovered and featured in LIFE magazine, which allowed Austen to life off her art for the first time in her life at age 85.

Sidenote: We know Alice Austen must have been gay, because there is a musical about her life. Plus: You know finally have a reason to visit Staten Island - her home is open to the public as a museum.

Recommended Reading: Alice’s World.

[Edit:] For a modern spin on Austen’s pictures, have a look at Steven Rosen’s contemporary reproductions of two of her most iconic pictures.

Elvis is alive…

and she is beautiful!

[K] Madonna on k.d. lang

(Picture credit: kroeja.de)

Marlene Dietrich re-invented as Street Art

For more amazing street art photography by Ulrich Blanchet go to his flickr photostream.

Treasures from Mercedes de Acosta’s Bequest - Greta Garbo

[K] After portraits of Mercedes de Acosta herself - most envy-worthy butch ever - and pictures she took of one of her most famous lovers, Marlene Dietrich, part three of the “Treasures from Mercedes de Acosta’s Bequest”-series shows intimate snapshots of Mercedes’ other famous lover, Greta Garbo.

Enjoy these rare glimpses into the private (and sporty) life of one of Hollywood’s most elusive - and yet biggest - stars.

(All pictures courtesy of the Rosenbach Museum and Libary.)

Tina Fiveash - Stories for Girls (1994)

[B] Tina Fiveash is an Australian photographer who’s known for her sexuality and gender themed photography. Her portfolio reads like a über-gay fairytale: Queer Love in the 50s, The Outlaws, Hey Hetero!, Tomboy. The photos you see here are from her series Stories for Girls:

Inspired by girl’s annuals and the Australian Women’s Weekly magazine from the 1950s, Stories for Girls is a tongue-in-cheek attempt torecreate missing lesbian photographic history from an era where homosexuality was a criminal offense, and lesbians were forced to remain in the closet and keep their relationships hidden from society. (Source)

The Beauty Book. 2.0

[K] Annie Leibovitz’ on her latest book project Pilgrimage, which - unusually for her oeuvre - doesn’t feature any people, but instead places and things, landscapes and material:

“Several years ago, Susan Sontag and I were planning something that we called the Beauty Book. The Beauty Book was going to provide an excuse for us to travel around to places we cared about and wanted to see. For me, it meant going back to taking pictures when I was moved to take a picture. When there wasn’t an agenda. If you are on assignment for a magazine, there are always agendas. Things that have to get done. I care about my assignment work, but I wanted to try working without that pressure. To be in a situation where I took a picture just because I saw it.
After Susan died, I knew that I couldn’t do the Beauty Book, although as time passed, I realized that I might do a different book, with a different list of places. The list would, inevitably, be colored by my memory of Susan and what she was interested in but it would be my list.” (FeminineMoments)

(Pictures courtesy of NewYorkTimes)

Treasures from Mercedes de Acosta’s Bequest - Marlene Dietrich

In today’s digital journey through the Treasures from Mercedes de Acosta’s bequest at the Rosenbach Museum and Library, instead of digging for more of the rather rare portraits of Mercedes de Acosta herself, we’ll focus on pictures taken by Mercedes of … Marlene Dietrich, captured in Mercedes’ snaphsots in a way neither paparazzi nor Hollywood’s glamor photographers ever could.

(Source: rosenbach.pastperfect-online.com)

Treasures from Mercedes de Acosta’s Bequest - Portraits

[K] If you’re following this blog, you are already away of the many reasons Mercedes de Acosta is worth remembering/the many ladies laid which earned her a bright spot in lesbian herstory.

If not, a quick reminder by celebrity photographer (and friend of Greta Garbo) Cecil Beaton:

“She was one of the most rebellious & brazen of Lesbians”.

(Another gay male fan would be Truman Capote, who assumed her to be the joker in his “International Daisy Chain” card game - think “6 degrees of separation”.)

Still, so far, we haven’t had the photographic evidence to proof her awesomeness and swagger. This is about to change, as it finally occurred to me to have a look the the Rosenbach Museum and Library’s online collection, to which Mercedes de Acosta had sold all her pictures and letters in 1960 (Good things come to those who wait… until it finally dawns on them.). Among them the much-hyped letters from Greta Garbo, which the museum was by de Acosta’s request not allowed to publish until 10 years after Garbo’s death. (Even though they weren’t by far as racy as some had hoped them to be.)

Focusing not on Garbo for a change, we proudly present portraits of one of my favorite vintage butches of all time, Mercedes de Acosta herself, as well as some of her celebrity friends such as Alfred Stieglitz and Getrude Stein.

All pictures courtesy of the Rosenbach Museum and Libary.