I have mentioned Sublime Mutations: Photographs 1990-2000 by Del LaGrace Volcano in a previous column, but now have seen a copy of the book. With essays in English and German by Jay Prosser and Gerburg Treusch-Dieter, it is an excellent overview of the work of Del LaGrace Volcano, formerly known as Della Grace, who was born in 1957 in California and now works in London. In edgy photographs high on gender ambiguity, Volcano portrays erotica, mutating self-portraits, images of friends, tranz portraits, a series on Kathy Acker, scarred, pierced, and tattooed bodies, and more. Not indexed. Tübingen, Germany: konkursbuch Verlag Claudia Gehrke, 2000, 192 pp. $59.00 Hardcover, ISBN: 3-88769-135-0. Dist. by Turnaround, Unit 3 Olympia Trading Estate, Coburg Road, Wood Green, London, N22 6TZ, E:orders@turnaround-uk.com
Bacon’s Eye: Works on Paper Attributed to Francis Bacon from the Barry Joule Archive is a collection of images attributed to painter Francis Bacon (1909-1992). Many are published photographs or reproductions of paintings. These have been altered by scratching, folding, drawing, or painting. The book includes an essay by Mark Sladen, interview with Barry Joule, and Bacon chronology. London: Barbican Art and 21 Publishing, 2001, 112 pp., $25.00 paperback, ISBN 1-901785-06-8, dist. by D.A.P., Distributed Art Publishers, Inc.
Francis Bacon by Andrew Brighton is an overview of Bacon's life and the ways in which his experiences related to and influenced his paintings. Indexed. Princeton: Princeton U. Press, 2001, 80 pp., $14.95 paperback, ISBN 0-691-07059-8.
Women of Vision: Histories in Feminist Film and Video, edited by Alexandra Juhasz, is built around warm, personal introductory overviews and interviews with twenty-one contemporary independent and experimental filmmakers and videographers. Lesbians Barbara Hammer, Yvonne Welbon, Kate Horsfield, Frances Negrón-Muntaner, Eve Oishi, and Cheryl Dunye are included along with lists of films/videos, lists of writings by interview subjects, and distribution and contact information. Not indexed. Minneapolis: U. of Minnesota Press, 2001, 280 pp., $19.95 paperback, ISBN 0-8166-3372-X; $49.95 hardcover, ISBN 0-8166-3371-1.
John Singer Sargent: American Drawings and Watercolors in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Stephanie L. Herdrich and H. Barbara Weinberg, with essay by Marjorie Shelley is a rich collection of images from Sargent's student years onward. Includes images of camping trips, travels, nude male bathers, and a delightful image of two dykey-looking women smoking in public. Indexed. New Haven: Yale, 2000, 444 pp., $90.00 hardcover, ISBN 0-300-08159-2.
Photographed on the River Thames in central London during the winter and spring of 1999, Dictionary of Water by Roni Horn (b. 1955) is an evocative re-exploration of Horn’s visually obsessive water theme. Exquisite (and beautifully reproduced) images show only the surface of the water with its reflections and shadows. No text. Germany: Steidl/Edition 7L, 2001, 200 pp., $90 hardcover, ISBN 3-88243-753-7, dist. by D.A.P.
Fairfield Porter: A Catalogue Raisonné is an impressive volume on U.S. bisexual painter and poet Fairfield Porter (1907-1975) with essays by Rackstraw Downes, William C. Agee, and John T. Spike. Of special interest to QCA members is the double portrait of poets John Ashbery and James Schuyler writing “A Nest of Ninnies” (and the comments by Schuyler that accompany the reproduction), and the nude and clothed portraits of gay poet Frank O'Hara. Indexed, includes chronology. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2001, 396 pp., $100.00 hardcover, ISBN 1-55595-165-1, dist. by National Book Network.
There are many pleasures to be found in A Studio of Her Own: Women Artists in Boston, 1870-1940 by Erica E. Hirsheler. Caucus member Laurie Toby Edison -- who saw the show in Boston -- raved about the exquisite aesthetics of the work, and the book conveys this well. Sections on artist couples involved in Boston marriages include sculptor Anne Whitney and her companion Adeline Manning and ainter/printmakers Ellen Day Hale and Gabrielle De Vaux Clements. Bisexual painter Margarett Sargent is discussed and there is a reproduction of a lovely 1936 portrait of May Sarton by Polly (Ethel R.) Thayer. Indexed. Boston: MFA (Museum of Fine Arts) Publications, 2001, 227 pp., $40.00 hardcover, ISBN 0-87846-482-4, dist. by D.A.P. Distributed Art Publishers.
Road: Alfonso Ossorio’s Responses to Jackson Pollock’s Death, text by B.H. Friedman -- a tiny but fascinating exhibition catalog -- contains a brief essay and reproductions of paintings by Ossorio (1916-1990), a close gay friend of Pollock’s. New York: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 2001, 16 pp., price not available at press time, paperback in cardboard jacket, ISBN 1-930416-11-3. Check with the gallery for ordering information: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 24 W. 57th St., NYC 10019, 212-247-0082.
Andy Warhol: Series and Singles with essays by Ernst Beyeler, Georg Frei, Peter Gidal, and Edward Sanders includes an overview of Warhol’s work, a detailed study of some of his images and their connection to his life, and an examination of Saturday’s Disaster and Blow Job. Basel, Switzerland: Fondation Beyeler, 2000, 216 pp., $50.00, ISBN 0-300-08994-5, dist. by Yale U. Press.
From Flitch to Ash: A Musing on Trees and Carving by Diane Derrick reworks the artist’s twenty year journey into wood carving and the devastating loss of her work to fire. Central to the book are Derricks’ commentaries on the spirituality of wood and wilderness and the nature of forests. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press, Inc., 2001, 108 pp, $14.95 paperback, ISBN: 1-56023-217-X; $29.95 hardcover, ISBN 1-56023-216X.
Dancing Desires: Choreographing Sexualities On & Off the Stage, ed. by Jane C. Desmond, is a wonderfully queer volume containing essays on lesbian dancer Loie Fuller, “Closets Full of Dances,” gay spectatorship, Bill T. Jones, “...My Life as a Lesbian Go-Go Dancer,” Ninjinsky, “...Invitations and Displacements in Dance Writing” and much more. Indexed. Madison: U. of Wisconsin Press, 2001, 477 pp., $24.95 paperback, ISBN 0-299-17054-3; $55.00 hardcover, ISBN 0-299-17050-0.
Dirty Pictures: Tom of Finland, Masculinity, and Homosexuality by Micha Ramakers is a serious, sexy, and well illustrated study of the work of Touko Kaaksonen (1920-1991), the best-known producer of gay erotic illustrations in the world. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000, 270 pp., $16.95 paperback, ISBN 0-312-27694-X; $27.95 hardcover, ISBN 0-312-20526-0.
Nice Girls Don’t: Erotische Fotografien by Laurence Jaugey-Paget, with text in English and German by Regina Nössler, presents the photographs of Jaugey-Paget (born in 1965 in France, now working in London) who makes sexy photographs of trendy, stylish, young urban women who appear to be having a very good time. Minimal text. Tubingen, Germany: konkursbuch Verlag Claudia Gehrke, 1999, 132 pp., $29.95 paperback, ISBN 3-88769-136-9, see address above.
Sex and the Floating World: Erotic Images in Japan, 1700-1820 by Timon Screech virtually ignores representations of lesbian sexuality, but is full of information about male-to-male sexual activity. Honolulu: U. of Hawai’i Press, 1999, $22.95 paperback, ISBN 0-8248-2204-8.
Erotic Ambiguities: The Female Nude in Art by Helen McDonald is a dense, theory-filled volume which discusses work by -- among many others -- contemporary queer artists Zoe Leonard and Tracey Moffatt. London and New York: Routledge, 2001, 249 pp., $22.95 paperback, ISBN 0-415-17099-0; $75.00 hardcover, ISBN 0-415-17098-2.
Surrealist Painters and Poets: An Anthology, ed. by Mary Ann Caws, includes translations of a text by lesbian photographer Claude Cahun (1894-1954) and of a letter from bisexual painter Frida Kahlo (1910-1954) to Jacqueline Lamba. Indexed. Cambridge and London: The MIT Press, 2001, 530 pp., $49.95 hardcover, ISBN 0-262-03275-9.
Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History by Sybille Haynes includes a too-brief discussion of homosexual images in Etruscan art and reproduces two images. Indexed. Los Angeles: Getty Trust Publications, 2000, 490 pp., $55.00 hardcover, ISBN 0-89236-575-7.
NEW IN PAPER. Looking at Lovemaking: Constructions of Sexuality in Roman Art, 100 B.C.-A.D. 250 by John R. Clarke contains a major section (and lovely images) on male-to male-lovemaking. Indexed. Berkeley: U. of California Press, 2001, 389 pp., $24.95 paperback, ISBN 0-520-22904-5; $50.00 hardcover (1998, 406 pp.), ISBN 0-520-20024-1.
SEE ALSO: Ambition & Love in Modern American Art by Jonathan Weinberg, caucus member and former co-chair. It is listed in the bibliography section and will be reviewed by Jonathan Katz in the next issue. New Haven: Yale U. Press, 2001, 336 pp., $35 hardcover, ISBN 0-300-08187-1. Indexed.
DUE OUT IN OCTOBER. A book of collaged images, Seeing Double/Rose Windows by poet and artist Jean Sirius, will be published in a numbered edition of 1000 copies. The series called “Seeing Double” was done while Sirius cared for her partner of eighteen years through the final stages of cancer. It is full of beauty and grace. “Rose Windows” is a visual meditation on the cycle of the seasons. Oakland, CA: Sirius Books, 2001, 48 pp., $85.00 paperback, ISBN 0-9714315-0-7, mailorder from Sirius Books, PO Box 9665, Oakland CA 94613, $85 + $3.50 priority or $1.50 book rate, California residents add sales tax.
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