Peter Hujar, American, 1934–1987; Candy Darling on Her Deathbed (detail), 1973; gelatin silver print; image: 14 5/8 x 14 5/8 inches, sheet: 19 7/8 x 16 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons; and funds given by the Marian Cronheim Trust for Prints and Drawings, Museum Purchase, Friends Endowment Fund, The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund, and the Eliza McMillan Purchase Fund 731:2020; © Estate of Peter Hujar
Several objects in SLAM’s collection feature characteristics of gender queerness. Gender queerness challenges the gender binary, a social system that asserts that the human population fits into two opposing genders. There are myriad ways to express oneself without the confines of the binary; gender queerness can range from identifying with a gender that does not align with one’s sex at birth to wearing clothing that does not traditionally align with one’s gender.
View a selection of works below that showcase contemporary self-expression and challenge traditional interpretations of gender.
Nancy Grossman, American, born 1940; C.H.I., 1969; leather, metal, wood, and nails; with base: 17 x 6 1/2 x 10 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Edward Okun 350:1980a,b; © Nancy Grossman, Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
C.H.I.
Nancy Grossman painstakingly manipulated black leather to form a constricting mask around this head, covering both the eyes and mouth. Studded straps cross the face, evoking violent and sexual body experiences. Grossman has described such heads as self-portraits, although their masculine traits do not resemble the artist. In an interview, Grossman said, “I think I am specifically female and specifically male. . . . And so is everyone. It’s much more arbitrary than people think.” Created in 1969, this work reflects the radical experimentation that characterized American culture at the time.
Lorna Simpson, American, born 1960; published by Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, founded 1976; printed by 21 Steps Editions, Albuquerque, New Mexico, founded 1991; Wigs (Portfolio), 1994; thirty-eight waterless lithographs on felt, twenty-one with photographs, seventeen with text; 72 inches x 13 feet 6 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Eliza McMillan Trust 29:1999a-ll; © Lorna Simpson. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Wigs (Portfolio)
Lorna Simpson’s Wigs (Portfolio) presents a dizzying array of hairpieces: from black braids to golden tresses, from a mustache to a merkin (a pubic wig). On the surface, it acts as a visual encyclopedia of African American hairstyles and accessories. Their effect is enhanced by the woolly texture of the felt on which they are printed. Beneath the surface, this work speaks to the politics and artistry of Black hair, to racial and gender stereotypes, and to the pressures of conforming (or not) to Eurocentric beauty standards.
Simpson brings a filmmaker’s sensibility to her photographs. The mixture of images and texts in Wigs, which was designed to be seen all together as a wall installation, feels like the storyboard for a film. The 17 texts, however, provide no clear narrative. They range from brief proverbs (“if the shoe fits”), to “mini” tales about Black lesbian blues singer Gladys Bentley or Sojourner Truth, and a troubling “Pantyhose episode.”
Peter Hujar, American, 1934–1987; Candy Darling on Her Deathbed, 1973; gelatin silver print; image: 14 5/8 x 14 5/8 inches, sheet: 19 7/8 x 16 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons; and funds given by the Marian Cronheim Trust for Prints and Drawings, Museum Purchase, Friends Endowment Fund, The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund, and the Eliza McMillan Purchase Fund 731:2020; © Estate of Peter Hujar
Candy Darling on Her Deathbed
Peter Hujar captured the people and streets of what made New York distinctive to him in the 1970s. Candy’s portrait, made at her invitation, shows the transgender icon at the end of her life, dying of lymphoma in a hospital. The majesty of the flowers, the lighting, and her own carefully applied makeup speak to the intention around the creation of this work. Hujar unflinchingly confronts her pain and the inevitability of mortality with his own characteristic precision and humanity.
George Tooker, American, 1920–2011; Window VIII, 1966; egg-yolk tempera on gessoed board; 24 x 20 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase, by exchange 107:2022; © Estate of George Tooker, Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York
Window VIII
Suffused light caressing this man’s torso conveys a sensual vulnerability, and backlighting emphasizes his peaceful expression. The artist, George Tooker, took great care to convey the tender beauty of the Black male body. Tooker created a series of paintings between the 1950s and 1980s in which a window frames single or coupled figures. The compositions were inspired by the artist’s New York City neighborhood, where residents were drawn to their windows to seek respite from the heat or to view the street life below. Tooker was an openly gay man who identified as biracial; his mother was Cuban, and his father was white. He intentionally depicted figures with mixed or often ambiguous gender, sexual, and racial identities in order to break down the prejudices that posed dangerous consequences for such communities.
Tooker’s paintings have layered meanings. The Arabic inscription across the top, loosely translated to “may God please [or satisfy] you,” was included in honor of the then-recently slain activist Malcolm X, whom Tooker admired.
This work in on view in Gallery 333.