CHICAGO, IL.- It is a little-known fact that the word homosexual only entered the lexicon in 1869; before that, the concept didn’t exist.

The emergence of the idea of homosexuality and the profound changes it sparked are examined by Jonathan D. Katz, one of the country’s pre-eminent queer art historians, in The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939, on view from Friday, May 2, to Saturday, July 26, at Wrightwood 659 in Lincoln Park, Chicago.

More than 300 paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints, photographs, and films will be on view, many presented for the first time within the context of global queer and colonial inquiry. Ranging from well-known masterpieces to unexpected works by little-known or anonymous artists, works have been drawn from such museums as The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Musée d’Orsay; Tate; Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Brazil.

The exhibition is accompanied by a major publication, published by the Phaidon imprint, The Monacelli Press. At 400 pages, with 500 illustrations, The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939 features 22 original and illuminating essays by an international roster of leading experts.
https://www.phaidon.com/monacelli/art-and-photography/the-first-homosexuals-the-birth-of-a-new-identity-1869-1939-9781580936934/

A number of these scholars will present recent scholarship at a two-day symposium at the Alliance Française in Chicago on May 9 and 10, 2025: https://wrightwood659.org/?post_type=programs&p=255790&preview=true. The exhibition team is led by Dr. Katz, Professor of Practice in the History of Art and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and associate curator Johnny Willis.

The exhibition is presented by Alphawood Exhibitions. Says Alphawood’s Executive Director, Chirag G. Badlani, “Alphawood has been committed to this project since its very conception. We are proud to have supported it at the scale it required through more than six years of global research, and are even more proud to support it now amidst a global wave of anti-LGBTQ actions.”

Wrightwood 659

Wrightwood 659 presents exhibitions on socially engaged art and architecture, on issues facing LGBTQ+ communities, and on Asian art and architecture. Located in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood in a building transformed by Pritzker Prize winner Tadao Ando, Wrightwood 659 encourages visitors to engage with pressing issues of our time in an intimate and beautiful space. For additional information, please visit wrightwood659.org.

Hours of Operation and Tickets

Fridays 12 noon-7 pm; Saturdays 10 am-5 pm. In celebration of Pride Month, Wrightwood 659 will be open on Thursdays in June through July 3, from 12 noon-7 pm. Admission is $15 and available online only at https://tickets.wrightwood659.org/events. Tickets go on sale April 3, 2025. Please note, admission is by advance ticket only. Walk-ups are not permitted.