The Drawings of J.B. Harter
By Tom Saettel

In the spring of 2003 LLGAF, in conjunction with the J.B. Harter Charitable Trust, will publish "The Drawings of J.B. Harter." The book contains 64 full color plates and an illustrated four part text written by Burt Harter and edited by Charles Leslie. Burt specifically chose this collection of work to illustrate his interpretation of the gay sensibility. The chapters covering Burt's work "From Life," "From Photography," his "Flights of Fancy" and his portraiture "The Face" describe his development as an artist.

Burt details his early frustration during the ´40s and ´50s in Louisville and Philadelphia finding live nude models of either sex to draw and paint. He eventually formed his own drawing groups of fellow art students which, alas, would dissolve at the end of term. Settling in New Orleans, Burt began photographing himself as a model. Finding this awkward, friends began sending him models or posing for him themselves. He found his friends from the gay community to be the most accommodating. He began recruiting models on his own - dancers who worked out in the gym, men from gay bars, hustlers. The more Burt worked from the male figure the more he realized that his interest was more than academic. And so through this text we trace not only Burt's development as an artist but his discovery of his own gay sexuality. And through the visuals we see how he so enthusiastically depicted the subject which inspired him the most.