Jeremy Caja, “The birth of Venus in Cleveland” (1988) (picture courtesy the museum)
This text is a part of Hyperallergic’s 2025 Delight Month collection, spotlighting moments from New York’s LGBTQ+ artwork historical past all through June.
At the side of the Stonewall Riots, there have been many elements concerned in transferring the needle in favor of homosexual and trans visibility in New York Metropolis in 1969 — one among which was a chosen homosexual arts scene pioneered by companions, collectors, and activists Charles Leslie and J. Frederic “Fritz” Lohman that paved the trail for what we now know because the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Artwork in Manhattan.
Based mostly on the time in gritty, post-industrial SoHo, Leslie and Lohman initially developed a gallery exhibition dedicated to displaying and promoting their assortment of homosexual and homoerotic artwork of their Prince Avenue loft that 12 months, and mounted two extra exhibitions with wild success earlier than formally opening the Leslie Lohman Gallery on Broome Avenue in 1972. The gallery struggled however survived for a couple of decade, primarily displaying artwork of the White, homosexual, and male persuasion (akin to Tom of Finland) and later incorporating extra ladies artists together with Marion Pinto, an in depth good friend of the couple. Staving off police intimidation and low income, the gallery finally closed in 1981 as lots of its exhibiting artists and reputed collectors succumbed to AIDS because the disaster ballooned all through New York Metropolis and past.
Set up view of ficciones patógenas, on view on the museum via July 27, 2025. (© 2025 Leslie-Lohman Museum of Artwork, New York; picture by Daniel Terna)
This actually wasn’t the final step for Leslie and Lohman, who knew that the lethal epidemic made it much more essential to gather, protect, and promote LGBTQ+ artwork. The couple co-founded the Leslie-Lohman Homosexual Artwork Basis as a nonprofit in 1987, however its nonprofit standing was held up by Inner Income Providers till 1990 over the inclusion of the phrase “gay” within the title. Regardless, the couple re-opened their gallery in a Prince Avenue basement, the place it could function till 2006 when it shifted above-ground to 26 Wooster Avenue.
The inspiration was granted museum standing in 2011 and it grew to become accredited in 2016, making it the primary museum dedicated to homosexual artwork on this planet on the time. Along with rotating exhibitions and a rising assortment, the museum boasts sturdy public programming on the intersection of artwork, storytelling, social justice, and variety.
A view of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Artwork’s exterior at 26 Wooster Avenue (© 2025 Leslie-Lohman Museum of Artwork, New York; picture by Daniel Terna)
Stamatina Gregory, head curator and director of exhibitions and collections on the museum, informed Hyperallergic that the establishment concurrently “prioritizes acquisitions by living, working artists” whereas “steward[ing] works by artists who were underrecognized in life, or whose lives were cut short, often by HIV/AIDS.” Gregory additionally famous that the gathering has already grown by 40 works all through 2025, particularly highlighting a latest acquisition of a piece by the late Jeremy Caja, who was a mixed-media artist and drag performer revered by the San Francisco queer group.
“The Birth of Venus in Cleveland” (1988) is a primary instance of Caja’s miniature work, Gregory defined, made with “drag queen’s handbag” mediums like eye shadow, glitter, and nail polish.
“It’s a hilarious and beautiful synthesis of Caja’s performance mythography and personal symbolism, influenced by his religious upbringing, gender non-conformity, and the art historical grotesque,” Gregory stated.
Judy Giera, the museum’s affiliate director of collections, informed Hyperallergic that the museum’s “work and activism is, and has always been, to rightfully conjoin queer art and art history.”
“Or rather, maybe we are pointing out that queer art and art history have always been intertwined — we just shine a light on that interplay where the cis-het, straight art world refuses to fully see it, uplift it, or find joy in it,” Giera continued. “We preserve the queer artists who would be lost to history, for as we’ve known all along, no one else will ever bother to do it for us.”
