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Lesbian Photography
Before Stonewall

   
Photography has long been an important artistic medium for lesbian women, but the record of lesbian photography before Stonewall has been obscured by time, disinterest, and overt hostility. However, the last thirty years of scholarship have produced enough material to create a dialogue about photographs made by lesbian-identified or lesbian-identifiable women.

An untitled photograph by Alice Austen (circa 1893)
An untitled photograph
by Alice Austen (circa 1893)

Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) may be best known for her photographs of New York City's changing cityscapes, but she also made memorable images of lesbians, bisexuals, and gay men in Paris and New York.

Alice Austen (1866-1952) was one of the first American women to become a photographer. The style she developed anticipated the genre of documentary photography.

Ruth Bernhard (b. 1905) is one of the preeminent twentieth-century photographers of the nude female. In her nineties, she publicly revealed relationships she has had with both women and men.

Claude Cahun (1894-1954), a photographer, photo collagist, writer, and translator, is known today primarily for creating images, including self-portraits, that play with concepts of gender.

Clara Estelle Sipprell (1885-1975) was a leading photographer of her day. She developed a Pictorialist approach and sought to create photographs that were as artful as paintings.

Photo Credits:  Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
 

 
 

 
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