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A review by 2jjomalley
Art and Homosexuality: A History of Ideas by Christopher Reed
4.0
YES, I jokingly say that every important historical figure was a little fruity and YES, this is the book I'm going to use that proves me right (kind of)
A unique account, if not an obvious choice for one in hindsight, of two inseparable histories and their compounded impacts that has already become one of the most important things I’ve read. A history of psychological theory and politics and social outrage and how it’s all come to be expressed visually, that was just as enlightening on the concept of identity as it was on art history.
and you’ll never guess what capitalism ruined this time !
The part that will stick with me though (apart from https://images.app.goo.gl/YDk8ABp9mpUAzhaZA) is the lesson of just how artificial and unstable identity and individualism as concepts are. Especially in the vague context of attributing behavior of sexuality to a definition of self. There we (Society™️) go again with our addiction to those binaries. That subtitle should really be just bolded underlined italicized
As for the book itself, it made a deliberate point to start with a broad perspective to prove how slippery the definition of both art and sexuality are to nail down. By its end though, it fizzled into an almost entirely American-centrism, much less western-centrism, though it may be fair to the extent the analysis dealt with the development of sexuality informed identity. The last chapter itself lost a lot of the concise focus that made the rest such a good read.
All else aside I will be very annoying about my performance of identity from now on, and you all have Mr Reed to thank for that
A unique account, if not an obvious choice for one in hindsight, of two inseparable histories and their compounded impacts that has already become one of the most important things I’ve read. A history of psychological theory and politics and social outrage and how it’s all come to be expressed visually, that was just as enlightening on the concept of identity as it was on art history.
and you’ll never guess what capitalism ruined this time !
The part that will stick with me though (apart from https://images.app.goo.gl/YDk8ABp9mpUAzhaZA) is the lesson of just how artificial and unstable identity and individualism as concepts are. Especially in the vague context of attributing behavior of sexuality to a definition of self. There we (Society™️) go again with our addiction to those binaries. That subtitle should really be just bolded underlined italicized
As for the book itself, it made a deliberate point to start with a broad perspective to prove how slippery the definition of both art and sexuality are to nail down. By its end though, it fizzled into an almost entirely American-centrism, much less western-centrism, though it may be fair to the extent the analysis dealt with the development of sexuality informed identity. The last chapter itself lost a lot of the concise focus that made the rest such a good read.
All else aside I will be very annoying about my performance of identity from now on, and you all have Mr Reed to thank for that