42 | Out in the Mountains |June 2000 D The Life in Art - A Visual History REVIEWED BY ERNIE MCLEOD I can think of a number of people for whom James Saslow’s Pictures and Passions would make an ideal gifi: Jesse Helms, Charlton Heston, all the folks who have been testifying the past few months about how homosexu- ality is an unnatural choice lacking historical tradition. ' Jesse could learn that the penis had a time-honored place in art history long before he passed dick pics by Robert Mapplethorpe and - David Wojnarowicz around the Senate. Homophobe Charlton could learn that Michelangelo’s “pictures and poetry remain the romantic as well as artistic high point of early modern homosexual self-expression,” a point clearly lacking in his portray- al of the artist in The Agony and the Ecstasy. Vennont’s more outspoken bigots could learn that one of the most compelling arguments for the naturalness of same-sex love lies in the fact that it has been I portrayed in the visual arts since the dawn of time. Such knowledge is proba- bly wasted on these people, however, so instead I’ll high- ly recommend Saslow’s amazingly ambitious and comprehensive book to all of you. . While Pictures and Passions is not the first book to look at artists and art histo- ry from a queer perspective, it is the first overview of homo- sexuality in the arts from the Stone Age to Stonewall, from pederastic pottery and the androgynous aesthetic to the AIDS quilt, Diva magazine and Gay Games T-shirts. Saslow, who’s written several books about the Renaissance and was a cofounder of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at City University of New York, is a perfect match for such an exhaustively Jhu ‘tum-“l’“‘ hi 8. Sui 9 um—Mld“lgh‘ Sun Over 200,000 book, music, video & DVD titles Over 2,000 periodicals 30% discount on Borders best-selling books Over l50 titles discounted, every week! Most Extensive Music selection in Burlington! Over 500 music listening stations to preview CD5 BORERSE 29 CHURCH STREET MARKETPLACE ° BURLINGTON ' 802-865-2711 SUN-Thu 9am_ 1 1pm Fri 8_ Sat 9am-Midn;g;,, broad undertaking. Saslow’s writing is neither ‘ dry nor drenched with acade- mic jargon. He looks at posi- tive and negative portrayals of homosexuality, high and low culture, private lives and public outings. Rarely does he appear to be pushing an agen- da, straining to “queer” his subject matter (as sometimes seems the case with such scholarship). On the other hand, he, doesn’t shy away from queer lingo (a classical Greek sculpture is described as a “handsome hunk,” for example) or amusingly know- ing descriptions of queer sex. In other words, ‘he doesn’t clean it up for the masses. _ Saslow introduces the book by asking what gay and lesbian art is exactly, and how it can be understood through the ages. While some of the images in the book (there are 150 photographs, 32 of them color plates) are bluntly sexu- al, he points out that if “homosexuality is more than sex, then homosexual art is more than images of sex.” Much of the work of the art scholar is putting the artworks in historical context, and Saslow goes to great lengths to discuss the images in rela- tion to the societal pressures in which they were created and viewed. Not surprisingly, represen- tations of homosexuality in the arts have often been dis- couraged (to put it mildly), suppressed, and denied throughout history. If depic- tions of male-male sexuality were rarely seen during cer- tain time periods, depictions of female-female sexuality were all but invisible. For me, one of the most positive things about this book is that, unlike so many scholarly studies by gay men, it doesn’t ignore lesbians. Granted, Saslow has limited material to work with, since, after Sappho, nearly all known artfiand literature was the product of men. The les- Malce your Civil union a historic occasionl C1:Ir:l)mt'cy0zn* union at /Jirmric —— Ethan Allen Hoinesteacl '1' 18”’-cc7»ztmfy /Jomc of l/'L’7”77'£0I‘l2f)J‘ fi”£C~f/Ji71ki7{flfi)I/1715157" '2' 1’ri51tz'7zc mrtumlscttii-1_q '2' Mi7lZtfBSfi'0741 downtown BM7”li7'lflf07Z '2' Mngmficcnt outdoor tarmac or iiztimntc colonial mvcm scttirzkrj Call 865-4665 for cletails or visit WWW.C-Etl‘1é11'lflll.C-3l1.tO8etl'l€Y.CO11’1 Volunteer opportunities available at Mountain Pride Media WE NEED: Delivery people Writers and reporters all over the state Ad sales people (commissions paid) And more! Call 434-6486 or email editor@mountainpridemedia.org