Queer Identities and Histories in American Art

Video (47:47): Anna O. Marley, Ksenia M. Soboleva and Jonathan D. Katz discus how Queer Identities and Histories have been encoded in American Art.

In celebration of next year’s inauguration of traveling exhibition Making American Artists: Stories from the @PafaOrg Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1776–1976, organized by the @AmericanFederationofArts, this panel discussion will focus on the visible and invisible ways queer identity has been encoded into American art, past and present.

It complements the exhibition, which originated at @PafaOrg in 2022, featuring over 100 of the most acclaimed and iconic pieces in American art from the PAFA collection — including a number by League artists.

Panelists include Jonathan D. Katz, PhD, Associate Professor of Practice, History of Art and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, University of Pennsylvania; Anna O. Marley, PhD, Chief of Curatorial Affairs, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; and Ksenia M. Soboleva, PhD, Andrew W. Mellon Gender and LGBTQ+ History Fellow, New-York Historical Society.

About the Traveling Exhibition

Making American Artists: Stories from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1776–1976‘ offers ‘new narratives in American art history, embracing stories about women artists, LGBTQIA+ artists, and artists of color. It also poses central questions about the artist’s experience: what did it mean to be an American artist when the nation was founded? How had that changed by the late-twentieth century?’

The exhibition tour, organized by the American Federation of Arts, takes place from June 2023–May 2025.

[The copyright of the above video remains with the original holder and it is used here for the purpose of education, comparison and criticism only.]