In a cultural second marked by censorship and retrenchment, Chicago’s Wrightwood 659 presents a daring counternarrative: The First Homosexuals: The Start of a New Id, 1869–1939. Spanning greater than 300 works from 125 artists throughout 40 international locations, the exhibition traces the emergence of queer identification. The present brings collectively items from main establishments together with the Tate in London and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Artwork, alongside rarer finds from small non-public collections in international locations like Spain and Sri Lanka.
Curated by scholar Jonathan D. Katz and eight years within the making, the present rewinds to 1869, the yr the time period “gay” first entered public discourse. By means of provocative works—drag portraits, two-spirit celebrations, early same-sex unions—the present dismantles the parable of binary sexuality. What emerges is a posh, world historical past of queerness lengthy earlier than it was policed or categorized.
Staged throughout three flooring of the non-public, philanthropically funded Wrightwood 659, the exhibition finds refuge in independence. Establishments throughout Europe and the U.S. declined to host the present—regardless of being provided the total program for gratis.
“It’s the form of exhibition {that a} large establishment just like the Met repeatedly pulls off,” Katz stated to The Chicago Solar Occasions. “However for a small, pretty new establishment like Wrightwood 659 to tug off, is form of extraordinary.”
The exhibit’s closing chapter revisits disaster: the Nazi destruction of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Analysis—a haunting reminder of how shortly visibility can vanish. “This present is each a celebration and a warning,” Katz says. “What occurred as soon as can occur once more.”
Wrightwood 659
659 W Wrightwood Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614
