The Gay in Graphic Design Gay Artists Have Always Been Involved in The
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The Gay in Graphic Design Gay artists have always been involved in the field of Graphic Design. Gay people have taken all aspects of art to levels unimaginable. Graphic design has affected gay people both positively and negatively. My intent is to take a journey through generations, and gain a clearer understanding of the gay community through these generations. The Lost Generation cannot be discussed with out mentioning a great visual artist from the era. Before Norman Rockwell there was another great visual artist known as J.C. Leyendecker who in fact was idolized by Rockwell himself according to Fullerton Museum curator Richard Smith in the L.A. Times. “J.C. Leyendecker virtually invented the idea of modern magazine design in the early part of the last century.”(Chun) “His lover and lifetime companion was often his subject featured on front pages of magazines across the country and in so many ads of the day including the famous Arrow dress shirt man.“ (Stanford) “He designed 322 covers for the Saturday Evening Post.” (NMAI) “The May 30, 1914 Post Mother's Day cover single-handedly birthed the flower delivery industry, and it created an American tradition.” (NMAI) “In 1905, Leyendecker received what became his most important commercial art commission when he was hired by Cluett, Peabody & Co. to advertise their Arrow detachable shirt collars. Leyendecker created the ‘Arrow Collar Man,’ handsome and smartly dressed; he became the symbol of fashionable American manhood and the first brand in advertising. Through his ads, Leyendecker boosted sales for the company to over $32 million per year, and defined the ideal American male: a dignified, clear-eyed man of taste, manners and quality.” (NMAI) “His Easter, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas covers were annual events for the Post’s millions of readers. Leyendecker gave us what is perhaps the most enduring New Year’s symbol, that of the New Year’s Baby. For almost forty years, the Post featured a Leyendecker Baby on its New Year’s covers.” (NMAI) “All through his career, his favorite model was his companion of 50 years, Charles A. Beach. Beach was a Canadian fan whom Leyendecker met in 1901, and immortalized as the ‘Arrow Collar Man.’” (NMAI) Some examples of his work are found in the public domain: 1907 Collier’s Magazine cover, J.C. Leyendecker. With regard to typography the word f____t was first printed in Oregon in the book The Vocabulary of Criminal Slang, page 30 found under the word Drag and examples of its usage. The title page states author Louis E. Jackson was assisted by a Detective and the book cost $1.50, a lot of money during this time which was 1913, it is no longer in copy right. A Vocabulary of Criminal Slang “The Society for Human Rights is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. The society is the first gay rights organization as well as the oldest documented in America. After receiving a charter from the state of Illinois, the society publishes the first American publication for homosexuals, Friendship and Freedom. Soon after its founding, the society disbands due to political pressure.” (pbs) Die Fruendin (The Girlfriend: Journal for Ideal Friendship between Women) was a popular lesbian magazine among lesbians. (Maggie) In fact several gay magazines were published in Germany before the Nazi’s shut them all down. (Leila) public domain Gays frequented bars known as “speakeasies” and a “Pansy Craze” emerged in cities across the U.S. during the Prohibition years, which began in this era, gay people found tolerance there. (Okrent) “Masculine Women, Feminine Men” was a fox trot of the era played by the Savoy Havana Band in 1926. Masculine Men, Feminine Women The GI (Greatest) Generation saw “Prohibition was repealed in 1933, ending what was known as the “Pansy Craze by the end of the decade, and gay friendly places were being shut down.” (Valenzuela, Parsons, and Konecny) Still the show went on for famous female impersonator’s of the day including the likes of “Ray Bourbon who was working as a full time female impersonator by 1932, headlining “Frisco’s first pansy show”, Boys Will Be Girls in San Francisco in 1933.” (Kilph) Ray Bourbon in fact “appeared in gay clubs across the US in the 1930’s and 40’s, notably San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami Beach.” (Kilph) Mr. Bourbon modeled dresses in a department store window in 1931, and ultimately performed in his show Don’t Call Me Madam: A Midnight Revue at Carnegie Hall in New York to a sold out audience." (Kilph) Public Domain Image I found a recording of Ray Bourbon ca. 1936 at Youtube submitted by user NoveltyNoveltyLand who titled it Her First Piece. Ray Bourbon - My Frist Piece During this era “Paul Cadmus worked as a commercial artist at a New York advertising agency.” (Smithsonian) His friend “Jared French, another tempera artist who befriended him and became his lover for a time, convinced him to devote himself completely to fine art.” (Grimes) “In 1934, he painted The Fleet's In! while working for the Public Works of Art Project of the WPA.” (Naval) Public Domain Image “The painting, featuring carousing sailors, women, and a homosexual couple, was the subject of a public outcry and was removed from exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C. The publicity helped to launch his career.” (Encyclopedia) “Cadmus was one of the first artists to be employed by The New Deal art programs, painting murals at U.S. post offices.” (Smithsonian) The Silent Generation saw tougher times for the average gay person. One piece of good out of the era was, “One, Inc. v. Olesen 355 U.S. 371 (January 13, 1958) is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision for LGBT rights in the United States. ONE, Inc., a spinoff of the Mattachine Society, published the early pro-gay "ONE: The Homosexual Magazine" beginning in 1953. After a campaign of harassment from the U.S. Post Office Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Postmaster of Los Angeles declared the October, 1954 issue obscene therefore unmailable under the Comstock laws. The magazine sued. The first court decision (March 1956) sided with the post office, as did the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (February 1957). To the surprise of all concerned, an appeal to the Supreme Court was not only accepted, but citing its recent landmark decision in Roth v. United States 354 U.S. 476 (1957) the Court, in a terse per curiam decision, reversed the 9th Circuit without even waiting for oral arguments. This marked the first time the Supreme Court had explicitly ruled on free press rights around homosexuality. The justices supporting reversal were Frankfurter, Douglas, Clark, Harlan, and Whittaker.”Murdoch, Price) McCarthyism according to the Oxford dictionary is: "A vociferous campaign against alleged communists in the US government and other institutions carried out under Senator Joseph McCarthy in the period 1950–54. Many of the accused were blacklisted or lost their jobs, although most did not in fact belong to the Communist Party.” (McCarthyism) “Homosexuality was classified as a psychiatric disorder in the 1950s. However, in the context of the highly politicized Cold War environment, homosexuality became framed as a dangerous, contagious social disease that posed a potential threat to state security.” (Kinsman) “Many have termed this aspect of McCarthyism “The Lavender Scare”. (Johnson) So to say life was hard for the gay community during this era would be an understatement. Often is the case the one casting doubt is in fact the one with something greater to hide under the mask of religious and/or political beliefs. Before it was all said and done Senator McCarthy himself was later investigated. I found this link on youtube site provided by user YouWillDeal they’ve titled “1960’s Anti- Gay Lecture For Children” that seems to give one an idea of the mood of the era. 1960's Anti-Gay Lecture For Children Still gay artists of the era pressed on, in response to a Modern Television Show “Mad Men” about an advertising agency in the 1960’s, David Leddick states: “I was there, as a junior writer, then a senior writer, then a group head through the 1950s, and then a creative director in the 1960s. I went on to become one of the highest-paid creatives in the world through the '70s and '80s.” (Leddick) “I beg to differ on the show's representation of the single gay character, Salvatore, who was fired by the fictional ad agency for being more open about his sexuality.” (Leddick) “Yes, some agencies were like the one where Don Draper works. But these stuffy, old-line agencies were the big ones -- BBDO, J. Walter Thompson, Leo Burnett -- not agencies like Draper's. They were top-heavy with upper-level management from Ivy League schools; they were agencies where women could only be secretaries or work in what was called the "Women's Division" (food, fashion, and cosmetics). In those kinds of agencies, if you were gay, you were probably closeted, like that poor character on Mad Men. But more likely, if you were gay, you didn't stay long at such an agency, as many of the smaller agencies were quite different -- fun agencies to work for, where being gay was not an issue.” (Leddick) “The gay men on staff knew everything there was to know at the time about clothes, interior décor, you name it. I learned a lot. This was the early 1960s; being witty was important then. And let's face it: This was New York, where being gay was hardly a hidden-away phenomenon.” (Leddick) According to his biography “Mr.