Masters & Visionaries: LGBTQ Art Through History

Masters & Visionaries: LGBTQ Art Through History

From the Renaissance rediscovery of classical ideals, to the effusive creativity of the Harlem Renaissance and the turbulent activism of the AIDS crisis, LGBTQ+ art often reflects dramatic social upheavals while forging breakthroughs in visibility.

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art LGBTQ
Veiled Gaze: Homoerotic Desire in Orientalist Art

Veiled Gaze: Homoerotic Desire in Orientalist Art

Beneath the veils of Orientalist fascination, a deeper current pulses—homoerotic tensions intertwined with power, conquest & longing. Bridges to how human desire confronts empires, ideology & unspoken rules.

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art
Naked Ambition: William Etty’s Daring Nudes

Naked Ambition: William Etty’s Daring Nudes

Looking at William Etty’s nudes—once so scandalous they could raise the temperature of an entire Victorian drawing room—you can't help feeling charged with the same electric bravado of this man who was unafraid to provoke ardor and outrage.

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art LGBTQ
George Barbier: Fashioning the Roaring Twenties

George Barbier: Fashioning the Roaring Twenties

In the uneasy afterglow of one war and the encroaching shadow of another, Paris refused to dull. It shimmered—defiantly, deliriously—as though light itself were a champagne bubble trying to escape...
Toby Leon
Tagged: Art
Taboo Strokes: John Singer Sargent’s Secret Male Nudes

Taboo Strokes: John Singer Sargent’s Secret Male Nudes

In the hush of a private studio, where light pooled like secrets and the door clicked shut against the world, John Singer Sargent laid his truths bare—not in speeches, not...
Toby Leon
Tagged: Art LGBTQ
Global Patchwork: Collage Art’s Multicultural History

Global Patchwork: Collage Art’s Multicultural History

Collage isn’t merely cutting and pasting random bits of paper; it’s an art form of radical openness, weaving distant cultures, voices, and eras into a cohesive new tapestry, gleaning the memory and meaning they hold.

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art Collage
Futurism's Art History, Visionaries & Legacy

Futurism's Art History, Visionaries & Legacy

With all their flaws and fervor, the Futurist dared to say “Let’s go!” to the unknown. Unleashing a wave of adventure artists are still riding, and will continue to as long as there are new worlds to imagine.

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art
Baroque Art, Architecture, Fashion, Music & Philosophy

Baroque Art, Architecture, Fashion, Music & Philosophy

Once a term of derision meaning an “absurd” contortion, Baroque has evolved into artistic rebellion against simplicity, a “dialect gone wild” that speaks the language of passion in an age of reason.

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art
Futurism’s Gone Retro, Afro, Deco and Solarpunk

Futurism’s Gone Retro, Afro, Deco and Solarpunk

Around the world and over the decades, artists from different cultures have spun off new variations of Futurism. Marrying it with issues of identity, heritage and alternative futures not imagined by Marinetti’s circle.

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art
Drawing with Scissors: Henri Matisse’s Cut Outs

Drawing with Scissors: Henri Matisse’s Cut Outs

Matisse's final chapter was one of audacious exploration and productivity, culminating in the birth of a new form of expression that combined drawing and sculpture—his famed cutouts.

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art
John Singer Sargent: Portrait of a Gilded Age Nomad

John Singer Sargent: Portrait of a Gilded Age Nomad

In the late 19th century, a certain magnetic glow seemed to follow John Singer Sargent wherever he set up his easel. His swift, unerring brushwork and incisive eye for detail would...
Toby Leon
Tagged: Art LGBTQ
Tearing Tradition Apart: Pablo Picasso’s Collage Odyssey

Tearing Tradition Apart: Pablo Picasso’s Collage Odyssey

Over a career marked by ceaseless innovation, Picasso not only revolutionized the world of painting, he transformed the realm of collage—yielding profound effects that ripple through the corridors of art history.

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art Collage