WELCOME TO THE ARCHIVE...a newsletter that will inform you about the history and the future of gay and lesbian art.

This first edition coincides with the commemoration of Stonewall 25 and when we welcome the athletes of the Gay Games to New York City. We at Leslie-Lohman share in that spirit, as we remember the past, celebrate the present, and look toward the future.

This first edition of The Archive is dedicated to the Foundation's first Director, George Dudley and all the others we have loved and lost to AIDS.

Charles Leslie & Fritz Lohman
The Two Founders
(Painting by Marion Pinto)

Leslie-Lohman /Past, Present, and Future

By Danny O'Connell

Robert W. Richards
Gay Games, 1994
Ink, grease pencil
and pastel on vellum

(From the exhibition Diamonds, Gold & Myrrh -- 25 Years)

 The Beginning…When Charles Leslie and Fritz Lohman held their first homoerotic art show at their SoHo loft in 1969, they were overwhelmed by the response. Charles notes, "we were dumbfounded at the crush of people."

They never expected that this show of "forbidden" art would have such a draw. However, through these special weekend shows, Charles and Fritz realized that there was a world out there that shared their love of homoerotic art and their concern about providing a place to display the works of so many great gay artists. 

In time, Charles and Fritz started a commercial gallery and began to display homoerotic art regularly, creating a special place for both collectors and artists. This special place was a haven for gay art, vastly different from the past that Charles remembers when collections were destroyed, and as Charles explains, ?artists even destroyed their own work, not knowing what would become of it once they were gone.? And beyond finding one of the first real homes for gay art, this gallery soon acted as a conduit for gay artists to display their works and be seen by the art world. In fact, it was through the Leslie-Lohman Gallery that cowboy artist, Delmas Howe first gained distinction. 

Many artists began to sell their work through the new gallery operated by Charles and Fritz. At this time they began to add to their own collection of homoerotic art, which raised for them the question of what would happen to all the works that they owned and loved. This concern gave rise to the idea of someday creating a space that would be a home for gay art, where it would be preserved for future generations to appreciate. 

Finding a Home: It wasn't easy finding a safe space for gay art in the Reagan-Bush years, especially when your goal was to create a foundation for the display and preservation of homoerotic art, but through the efforts of a lot of good friends and associates, Charles and Fritz realized their dream. The law firm, Weiss, Buell and Bell represented their interest to both the federal and state governments to create a gay art foundation. New York State was the easy part; the Regan-Bush bureaucracy on the other hand was a nightmare: nasty, intrusive questions from government officials. Charles remembers one particular inquiry: "Where is this archive going to be, in the corner of your living room?? Questions arose about the nature of the Foundation and its gay orientation " homophobia raised its ugly head. In response to some of the criticism and questioning, some well-intentioned people connected with the project recommended dropping the "Gay" in Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation, but Charles and Fritz wanted no part of that. Charles states, "What's the point in creating a gay art foundation if you can't even say what it is?" 

Finally, the Foundation was a reality. Although, as Charles notes, "Foundations are often created in three months, it took us three years," he, Fritz, and so many others knew that the time and effort was worthwhile and that a permanent archive and showplace for gay art had arrived. Today Fritz observes what those years of struggle meant. "We have provided a place in which hundreds of artists, who probably would never have been seen in any public venue, can now be seen, and thousands of viewers have seen things they want to see, which they could not have seen otherwise." And beyond providing a place for public display, the Foundation's purpose in providing an archive for gay art remains eminent. Charles notes, "It's frightening, but it is still a restricted area, even though some mainline galleries show works of gay and lesbian nature, it is the exception. America remains very puritanical when it comes to human sexuality. And let's face it, art is politics, particularly gay art, which is another part of gay life victimized by church, state, and straight.? 

Today the threats are much the same as they always were and gay art, particularly of a homoerotic nature, remains vulnerable. Charles reminds us that gay and lesbian art will always need a safe haven because, "Look, we live in a land of Jesse Helms!"

Going Forward: And living in this land of Jessie Helms means preserving more than homoerotic art; it means preserving the history of gay sensibility as seen through the artist's eye. Initially, the Foundation's mission was directed at preservation of homoerotic art, but it has become clear that the Foundation's function is much more. Charles states, "Our purpose is to protect gay-oriented art and that involves homoromantic art, homophysical art, homosociological art, and AIDS art."

Sadly, the AIDS plague has produced a phenomenon that Charles believes the Foundation has had to address -- the early death of so many gay artists and collectors. The Foundation's Archive becomes even more important in preserving so many works that could otherwise be lost. And because of the threat of AIDS as well as the societal threats to gay culture, Charles and Fritz's goal is to move the Foundation to a larger space that would house a gay art museum and archive. To achieve this important goal will require the efforts of many people and financial support. For this to happen, Charles makes an impassioned plea: "We are forever, desperately in need of financial support because it is our hope, in the future, to have a fully constituted museum and state-of-the-art archive. People give fortunes to maintain pretty gardens, so why shouldn't they do the same for art?"