Queer Frontier

Art Discussions in Honor of Pride Month 

Captain Stewart: Queer Explorer and Entrepreneur
Scottish nobleman and adventurer, Sir William Drummond Stewart, was a flamboyant figure in Western American history whose extravagant tastes and poorly concealed same-sex relationships eventually drove him back to Scotland. Come examine a grand painting featuring Captain Stewart and hear of his exploits in the West.

Conflicting Ideas of Gender and Sexuality in the Old West
We’ll look at art picturing the Jeffersonian ideal of family farm life on the frontier and discuss Indigenous peoples’ concepts of gender, sexuality, and family life that Euro-American explorers and settlers found particularly challenging to relate to.

Cowboy Poetry of Queer Love
Cowboys are icons of straight masculinity, who often formed deep bonds with their professional partners on the range. Sometimes those bonds were romantic and inspired artists and poets. Hear some cowboy love poetry while considering the painted subject.

Marsden Hartley: A Gay American Artist
Never openly out, Hartley was well known to be gay and many of his paintings expressed his homosexual desire in coded, and not-so-coded ways. His time in New Mexico fundamentally changed his approach to painting and provided a respite from his grief at the loss of his lover in WWI. We’ll discuss one of his New Mexico paintings and his later career.