Erte Born November 10th

Romain de Tirtoff was born November 10th, 1892 in St Petersburg, Russia. Tirtoff emigrated to France and specifically Paris in 1910 and would adopt the name "Erte" based on the French pronunciation of the initials R and T in his full name. Erte's work became synonymous with the Art Deco style of the twentieth century.

Francis Bacon Born October 28th

The English Irish artist Francis Bacon, descendant of the Elizabethan philosopher of the same name, was born October 28th, 1909.

Simeon Solomon Born October 9th

  

Youngest of eight chidren, Simeon Solomon was born on October 9th, 1840 in London into a family of painters. Letters tell that Solomon and Algernon Swinburne chased each other naked through painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti's house. Solomon was arrested for the crime of buggery in 1873 and was fined but walked away free, thanks to his class. Solomon would find the world of art and its sources to be closed to him because of his sexuality and he died of heart failure exacerbated by alcoholism.

Read Simeon Solomon - Painter of Androgynes   and Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites  .

Aubrey Beardsley Born August 21st

Aubrey Beardsley was born August 21st, 1872 to a poor family in Brighton, England. A child prodigy at art, Beardsley attended the Bristol Grammar School and later came to the attention of Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones who encouraged him to further his art by attending the Westminster School of Art. His first commission came in 1892 with the numerous illustrations for Morte D'Arthur. At this time the young artist met and became associated with Oscar Wilde. In 1894 Beardsley became the arts editor of The Yellow Book, a position which he was fired from as a consequence of being Oscar Wilde's friend after his conviction. Frail health ended his life at the very young age of 25.

Learn more about Beardsley  at Gay For Today and GLBTQ

Jasper Johns Born May 15th

Jasper Johns was born May 15th, 1930 in Augusta, GA. After his parents' failed marriage, Johns lived with various relatives until attending the University of South Carolina and then moving to New York City to study at the Parsons School of Design. Johns would soon meet fellow artist Robert Rauschenburg and the two men had a long term relationship. Johns' work in this period was influenced by choreographer Merce Cunningham and composer John Cage. Johns received the Presidential Medal of Honor in Februrary, 2011 from President Barack Obama.

Read more about Johns at Gay For Today and The Art of Code at Queer Arts and the artist's official site.

Keith Haring Born May 4th

Keith Haring was born May 4th, 1958 in Reading, PA. One of the most important gay artists of the later 20th century, Haring's life was cut short by AIDS complications. He was 31 years old. Haring's style lives on.

Go visit the official Haring site now!

Romaine Brooks Born May 1st

Beatrice Romaine Goddard was born May 1st, 1874 in Rome, Italy. Beatrice had an unhappy childhood. Her parents divorced and the family was abandoned by her father Henry. The family moved to New York City though Beatrice was no better off. Her mother was unstable and gave her affections to Beatrice's mentally ill brother while Beatrice was in charge of watching him as he would attack anyone who approached him. Despite the wealth of her maternal grandfather, Isaac S. Waterman, Jr that could have served as a safety net, Beatrice's mother turned her over to a poor family and disappeared. Beatrice never revealed where her grandfather lived for fear she'd be returned to her mother.

Beatrice entered into a marriage of convenience with John Ellingham Brooks, a failed pianist, translator, in debt, and gay. The marriage lasted less than two years; she moved to London and then to Paris, he to the Italian island of Capri, the  haunt of fashionable gay men. Now going by the name Romaine Brooks, her life and luck changed dramatically as she moved among the upper crust and began painting their portraits. Around the beginning of World War I Brooks met and fell in love with writer Natalie Barney. The two women had a non-monogamous relationship that lasted more than fifty years.








Read more about Brooks at GLBTQ and Wikipedia and view a few paintings.

Leonardo Born April 16th

Leonardo da Vinci was born April 16th, 1453 near Florence, Italy. Yes, that Leonardo. The Renaissance artist who painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper never married or had any romantic relationship with a woman. At the age of 24 while he was working for the Italian painter Verocchio he and three other young men were anonymously accused of sodomy. Leonardo was accusation asserted he'd had sex with a known male prostitute named Jacopo Saltarelli, though the charges were dropped for lack of witnesses. Taking on male assistants would have been a common practice; however, Leonardo employed very attractive young men, including one he nicknamed "little devil" (Salai).

Volumes have been written about one of the most famous painters of history. Read a little more here and here.

J C Leyendecker Born March 23rd

Joseph Christian Leyendecker was born March 23rd, 1874 in Montabour, Germany. In 1882 the Leyendecker family, including an older sister and brother and a younger brother, immigrated to Chicago, where a maternal uncle founded a successful brewery. Leyendecker studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. J C and younger brother Frank studied also at the Parisian Académie Julian. Leyendecker's greatest success as a commercial artist would be his "Arrow Collar Man" work. The model for the Arrow Collar campaign was Charles Beach, Leyendecker's lover.

Read more at Gay For Today and GLTBQ.

Joe Brainard Born March 11th

Joe Brainard was born on March 11th, 1942 in Salem, AR and his family moved to Tulsa, OK soon thereafter. Brainard demonstrated artistic skill at an early age and art became a means for him to deal with the outside world. After spending moving to New York City in late 1960, Brainard spent a year in Boston where he found new expressions for his art and returned in 1963. Brainard began a romantic relationship with writer Kenward Elmslie in 1964. The pair collaborated on work.

Learn more about Joe Brainard at the artist's official site and Wikipedia.

Michelangelo Buonarroti Born March 6th

Painting by Jacopino del Conte

Known simply by his first name, Michelangelo was born on March 6th, 1475 in the village of Caprese near Florence. The boy who would become one of the world's most well known artists became an apprentice to painter Domenico Ghirlandaio. His fortunes improved dramatically when the wealthy and powerful Lorenzo de Medici brought him into his court. His sculpture of David and frescoes in the Sistine Chapel are his most famous works.

Read more at GLBTQ and Queers In History.