CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
Scroll To Top![Gustave Caillebotte, Man Drying His Leg, 1884](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 603'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Gustave Moreau, The Young Man and Death](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 564 1005'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Ferdinand Hodler, Urkraft, 1909](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 1030'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![George Bellows, Showerbath, First State, 1917](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 508'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![George Bellows, Business Men's Bath, 1923](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 650 449'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Matisse, Male Model, 1900](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 1026'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Pablo Picasso, Minotaur](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 754 1054'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Thomas Hart Benton, The Arts of Life in America, 1932](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 379'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Thomas Hart Benton, The Arts of Life in America, 1932](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 553'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Gustave Caillebotte, At His Bath, 1884](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 500 669'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Pablo Picasso, The Pipes of Pan, 1923](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 609 761'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Paul Cezanne, Bathers, 1890](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 613'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Paul Cezanne, Standing Bather Seen From Behind, 1879](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 650 1088'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![George Bellows, Paddy Flanigan, 1908](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 495 601'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![George Bellows, Riverfront No. 1, 1915](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 537'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![George Bellows, Riverfront No. 1, 1915, detail](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 563'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![El Greco, Saint Sebastian, 1578](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 976'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![George Bellows, Forty-two Kids, 1907](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 466'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![George Bellows, Forty-two Kids, 1907, detail](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 563'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Thomas Hart Benton, The American Historical Epic Planters, 1927](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 690'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![George Bellows, Stag at Sharkey's, 1909](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 650 435'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Thomas Hart Benton, Self-portrait With Rita, 1922](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 900'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Paul Cezanne, Seven Bathers,1900](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 623'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Gustave Caillebotte, The Floor Scrapers, 1875](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 530'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Gustave Caillebotte, The Floor Scrapers, 1875, detail](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 904'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Gustave Caillebotte, The Floor Scrapers, 1875](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 603'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Gustave Moreau, Study of a nude model, 1858](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 600 1024'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Gustave Caillebotte, Oarsman in Top Hat, 1877](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 576'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![George Bellows, Splinter Beach, 1913](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 566'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Edward Hopper, Ground Swell, 1939, detail](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 559'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![George Bellows, Counted Out No. 1, 1921](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 650 722'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![George Bellows, The White Hope, 1921](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 592'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Pablo Picasso, Nude Male Stabbing Neck of Minotaur In an Arena Watched by Spectators; plate 89 of the Vollard Suite, 1933](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 671 480'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![Thomas Hart Benton, People of Chilmark, 1920](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 634'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![George Bellows, The Barricade, 1918](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 750 441'%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![close button](data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCA0OCA0OCI+PHBhdGggZD0iTTI0IDRDMTIuOTUgNCA0IDEyLjk1IDQgMjRzOC45NSAyMCAyMCAyMCAyMC04Ljk1IDIwLTIwUzM1LjA1IDQgMjQgNHptMTAgMjcuMTdMMzEuMTcgMzQgMjQgMjYuODMgMTYuODMgMzQgMTQgMzEuMTcgMjEuMTcgMjQgMTQgMTYuODMgMTYuODMgMTQgMjQgMjEuMTcgMzEuMTcgMTQgMzQgMTYuODMgMjYuODMgMjQgMzQgMzEuMTd6IiBmaWxsPSIjOTgwMDAwIiBjbGFzcz0iZmlsbC0wMDAwMDAiLz48cGF0aCBkPSJNMCAwaDQ4djQ4SDB6IiBmaWxsPSJub25lIi8+PC9zdmc+)
![]()
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Gustave Caillebotte, Man Drying His Leg, 1884
So, before the outraged comments on this post break the internet, let’s calmly discuss a few things.
First of all, the word "homoerotic." What we are referring to here is art that has a sexual or sensual approach to the male body, or is appealing in its masculinity and homosocial situation.
Most of the art here was from a time when art was considered of interest only to men. Art was made for a male audience and male patronage. So any art depicting men in an erotic way was made for other men. At the turn of the last century it was thought that a polite woman would avert her eyes from any depiction of male nudity. That whole idea is false, of course, but it was prevalent for a long time, even into the 20th century, despite the number of successful female artists. But you know how men are.
Secondly, let’s talk about the term "straight." Just as many artists cannot be verified as gay — a term that had little relevance in their time — neither can someone be categorically called straight without the allowance for the hugely different cultural standpoint we have in this century. After all, Oscar Wilde was married with kids.
So what we are referring to here when we say "straight" is that these men were assumed to be heterosexual at the time they lived. Did they have homosexual desires? Some might say that artists like George Bellows certainly seem likely to have had at least a thought or two in that direction. But other staunch heterosexuals, like Picasso, seem simply to have had an evolved sense of what was sexual and sensual without regard to gender.
One time I asked a close straight friend if he thought a mutual male friend of ours was attractive. He sputtered that he had no idea. How could he tell if another man was attractive?
Artists can be ahead of the curve. Maybe there would be less homophobia in the world if straight men could see the sexual beauty of other men freely and without the panic that it seems to engender. Beauty exists. Sexual orientation doesn’t logically have anything to do with being able to appreciate beauty. And finding someone beautiful doesn’t mean you necessarily want that appreciation to lead to sex.
xtyfr
More Galleries
Christopher Harrity
Christopher Harrity is the Manager of Online Production for Here Media, parent company to The Advocate and Out. He enjoys assembling online features on artists and photographers, and you can often find him poring over the mouldering archives of the magazines.
Christopher Harrity is the Manager of Online Production for Here Media, parent company to The Advocate and Out. He enjoys assembling online features on artists and photographers, and you can often find him poring over the mouldering archives of the magazines.