Male Desire

The Homoerotic in American Art

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by Jonathan Weinberg

Harry N. Abrams Inc.

Due/Published April 2005, 208 pages, cloth

ISBN 0810958945

"Male Desire entertains, stimulates, seduces, enlightens: it is the perfect art history course, slide after delicious slide, with piquant, smart commentary." - Wayne Koestenbaum

Examining the history of homoeroticism in American art, Male Desire surveys how the male body has been portrayed for the last century and a half. From the academic-style paintings of Thomas Eakins in the 19th century to Félix González-Torres's conceptual works in the "age of AIDS," this fascinating book by the well-known art historian Jonathan Weinberg highlights specific artists while illuminating the artistic and cultural contexts in which they worked.

Accompanying Weinberg's engaging text are 170 compelling images of the male physique by such artists as George Bellows, Marsden Hartley, Paul Cadmus, Andy Warhol, and Robert Mapplethorpe, works that address the theme of the homoerotic in vivid and often contentious ways. While they range widely in style and content, these artworks all share a quality of excess in the way they represent the male figure. 

 220 illustrations, 128 in full color.