Sapphics of the Past

You can donate to their FundRazr here.

The Kiss by Joseph Granie, 1900

Two Women Embracing by Egon Schiele, 1911

Jupiter and Callisto by François Boucher, 1744

Blues singer Gladys Bentley was born of Mary Bentley and George L. Bentley on August 12, 1907. She left her home in Pennsylvania at the age of 16 and ran away to New York City where the Harlem Renaissance called out to her. It was there that she began her singing career at parties and, soon, speakeasies and nightclubs. In New York, Gladys showcased at popular clubs such as the Clam House and the Ubangi Club. Her strong voice and show tunes and blues parodies were a hit with audiences. Bentley would take popular songs and change up the lyrics in a playfully dirty way, and, wearing her trademark top hat and tux, would flirt with many girls in the audience during shows. Bentley once said, “It seems I was born different. At least, I always thought so….From the time I can remember anything, even as I was toddling, I never wanted a man to touch me…Soon I began to feel more comfortable in boys clothes than in dresses.” She was one of the most open lesbians and performed at many lesbian bars. She was also notorious for having very flamboyant girlfriends. Once, Bentley even told a gossip magazine that she had married a white woman in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Even though her image as a lesbian was well-known, her song lyrics were, unfortunately, not as open. Perhaps this was just as well since, in the 1930s, intolerance for homosexuals began to rise and, by the 1950s, the McCarthy “witch hunts” that were breaking out against homosexuals made it a particularly dangerous time to be out. Bentley, who had to support her dying mother at this time, searched for a way to relieve herself of her dangerous reputation. She began wearing dresses and cleaning up her acts. Finally she wrote an article for Ebony magazine called “I am a Woman Again” telling about how taking female hormones “cured” her of being a lesbian. This did not end Bentley’s career, however. She still frequently performed at various clubs. Rumors of her marrying a couple of men arose, but one denied these rumors and she soon divorced the other. Gladys Bentley later became a sincere member of the “Temple of Love in Christ, Inc” and was well on her way to becoming an ordained minister when she died of the flu. Gladys Bentley’s recording and performing career lasted almost twenty years and she remains one of the most popular and successful blues singers of her time.

Queer Profile: Amrita Sher-Gil Amrita was a popular Indian painter sometimes referred to as “India’s Frida Khalo.” Born in Budapest, Hungary on the 30th of January 1913, she was raised by her Punjabi Sikh father and Hungarian-Jewish mother. This parentage offered an identity struggle throughout the artist’s life. Caught between Western and Indian origins, Amrita donned her sari on some days; but on other occasions, she leaned more towards Western fashion. At the age of sixteen, Amrita moved to Paris to study at the École de Beaux-Arts. It was here that her father reported she had multiple affairs with both men and women. Her explanation was, “How can one feel the beauty of a form, the intensity or the subtlety of a color, the quality of a line, unless she is a sensualist of the eyes?” Once she and her family moved to India, her affairs with women grew to be well-known. Unfortunately, many of her intimate letters were burned by her usually liberal parents because of this. Her paintings, not unlike those of Khalo, challenged the views of the public on the sexuality and expectations of women. Her paintings of daily life in India are some of the most popular and realistic. Amrita Sher-Gil died at the age of 28 after hemorrhaging from an unsuccessful abortion, leaving her legacy behind in an abundance of paintings.

Lesbian Couple of the Day: Mary and Ruth embracing, 1910.

Born December 8, 1626 in Stockholm, Sweden, Queen Kristina inherited the throne at the age of six when her father died in battle. Being the only heir, her father instructed that she be educated as a prince. One of the first things she achieved during her reign, was putting an end to the Thirty Years’ War. Nicknamed Minerva of the North, after the Roman equivalent of the Greek god of wisdom, Kristina valued education and philosophy. She showed these values in her determination to improve the education of peasants. Thanks to her rule, Sweden first began to publish newspapers and the first school system was started. Advancements in science and the enjoyment of literature and the arts were fully supported by Queen Kristina. She carried one of the greatest collections of books, paintings, and sculptures. While Queen of Sweden, Kristina chose her own ladies-in-waiting and it is believed she had an affair with one of them, Countess Ebba Sparre, whom she nicknamed “Belle” (pictured bottom left). Their intimacy is proved through the many letters passed between them. Ebba Sparre was reportedly given the title of the queen’s “Bed Fellow.” Their relationship ended soon after Countess Sparre was married and left Kristina’s court, but their letters continued. Kristina also was believed to have had affairs with women by the names of Gabrielle de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Rachel Teixeira, and Angelina Giorgino, but she later reflected in her memoirs that Ebba was the only real love of her life. Despite the urging of her court for her to produce an heir to the throne, Queen Kristina refused to marry throughout her 10 year reign of Sweden. Instead she appointed her cousin Charles X Gustav to be her heir. She immediately abdicated the throne and moved to Rome, Italy following her baptism into Catholicism. In Rome, she founded the Arcadia Academy (Accademia dell’Arcadia) and urged that the first public house of opera, Tordinona, be opened.

Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene by Simeon Solomon, 1864

Sappho

Lesbian Couple of the Day: Spectators at a Beatles concert in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England in 1964.

Queer Profile: Sappho Sapho is considered to be the mother of all lesbians. Both her name and home-city-state of Lesbos are where we get the two terms for lady-lovin’ ladies; sapphic and lesbian. Although not much is known about the life of Sappho, she was born around 600 B.C. She was a lyrical poet who composed works consisting both of tributes to the Greek gods of the time and expressions of her love for both women and men. Her poems were collected and stored in the Library of Alexandria until it was burned down. Due to this, much of her work was lost years after her death. Nonetheless, she is believed to have been popular in her day, held in the same regard as Homer. She is also inventor of the Sapphic stanza style, which consists of three long lines of a poem followed by a shorter fourth.

The Sleepers by Gustave Courbet, 1866

Two Women Waltzing by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, 1894 (at the Moulin Rouge)

Abandonment (The Pair) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1895