#early 20th century french illustration

[sassafrasmoonshine]

Félix Lorioux (French, 1872–1964) • Illustration of Tom Thumb from Tales of Perrault , Charles Perrault, authot (1628-1803) • 1926

[eirene]

La Musique, 1903 François Flameng

[solcattus]

Illustration from 'Album Mariani', 1904

By Eugène Grasset

[zebreacadabra]

"Have One On Me" comparison :

-Focus on Sarah Bernardt -

As Joanna said in an interview, a model in a some parisian art studio around 1920 in Paris (France) is one of the inspirations for the HOOM cover photo. Here we have some pictures (and two illustrations) of the famous french actress Sarah Bernhardt in her parisian studio (late 1890's - early 1900). This is not exactly the right year, neither a model in an art studio. But more over the resemblance between the HOOM cover and the luxurious exuberant appartement, there is plenty of others paralels that I will explained in others posts. As a part of the parisian art scean of her time, Sarah Bernhardt was depicted by difrent painters and artist during the years. So, we may consider her as "parisian art model", but you'll see later.

Fun fact: it seems that the images here are not from a set, but the inside of her personal appartement. What a flamboyant and exuberant place to live!

Sarah Bernhardt (Born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils, Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo, Fédora and La Tosca by Victorien Sardou, and L'Aiglon by Edmond Rostand. She played female as well as male roles, including Shakespeare's Hamlet. Rostand called her "the queen of the pose and the princess of the gesture", and Hugo praised her "golden voice". She made several theatrical tours around the world, and she was one of the early prominent actresses to make sound recordings and to act in motion pictures.

[artmialma]

Illustration from "Les Chansons de Bilitis" 1922

George Barbier  (1882–1932) was one of the great French illustrators of the early 20th century

[literaryvein-reblogs]

More Art-Related Vocabulary

Abstract Expressionist: An artistic movement of the mid-20th century emphasizing an artist’s freedom to express attitudes and emotions, usually through nonrealistic means.

Age of Exploration (also, Age of Discovery): From the early 15th century to the early 17th century, European ships traveled around the world in search of new trading routes, lands, and partners to supply an ever-growing European market.

Albumen silver print: A photograph made using a process that was prevalent until the 1890s. The paper is coated with albumen (egg whites), and the image is created using a solution of silver salts.

Brayer: A hand roller used for applying ink to relief printing blocks or occasionally for the direct application of paint or ink to a surface.

Caricature: A representation in either literature or visual art that includes a ridiculous distortion or exaggeration of body parts or physical characteristics to create a comic or gross imitation.

Ceramics: Vessels of clay made by using a variety of shaping techniques and then hardening or firing the clay with heat at a high temperature.

Chasing: A term encompassing two processes in metalworking: (a) modeling decorative patterns on a hand-shaped sheet-metal surface using punches applied to the front, and (b) finishing and refining a cast sculpture.

Classical: Describes a prime example of quality or “ideal” beauty. It often refers to the culture, art, literature, or ideals of the ancient Greek or Roman world, especially that of Greece in the 4th and 5th centuries B.C.

Collage: An art form and technique in which pre-existing materials or objects are arranged and attached as part of a two-dimensional surface.

Color palette: (a) A set of colors that makes up an image or animation, and (b) the group of colors available to be used to create an image.

Composition: The process of arranging artistic elements into specific relationships to create an art object.

Daguerreotype: An early method of photography produced on a silver plate or a silver-covered copper plate made sensitive to light.

Exoticism: Fascination with and exploration and representation of unfamiliar cultures and customs through the lens of a European way of thinking, especially in the 19th century.

Expressionism: A style of art inspired by an artist’s subjective feelings rather than objective or realistic depictions based on observation. Expressionism as a movement is mainly associated with early 20th century German artists interested in exploring the spiritual and emotional aspects of human existence.

Gelatin silver print: A photograph made through a chemical process in which a negative is printed on a surface coated with an emulsion of gelatin (an animal protein) containing light-sensitive silver salts.

Illuminated manuscript: Comes from the Latin words illuminare (to throw light upon, lighten, or brighten), manus (hand), and scriptus from the verb scribere (to write). A handwritten book, usually made from specially prepared animal skins, in which richly colored and sometimes gilded decorations, such as borders and illustrations, accompany the text.

Illuminator: A craftsman or artist who specializes in the art of painting and adorning manuscripts with decorations.

Impressionist: Referring to the style or theories of Impressionism, a theory or practice in painting in which objects are depicted by applying dabs or strokes of primary unmixed colors in order to evoke reflected light. Impressionism was developed by French painters in the late 19th century.

Inking plate: A flat surface used for rolling ink out in preparation for applying ink to a plate or block.

Inscription: A historical, religious, or other kind of record that is cut, impressed, painted, or written on stone, brick, metal, or other hard surface.

Source Art Vocabulary pt. 1

More: Word Lists

[iwtvfanevents]

Rewind the Tape —Episode 4

Art of the episode

Just like we did for the pilot and for episodes two and three, we took note of the art shown and mentioned in the fourth episode while we rewatched it. Did we miss any? Can you help us put a name to the unidentified ones? Do you have any thoughts about how these references could be interpreted?

Bust of a Woman with Her Left Hand on Her Chin

Edgar Degas, 1898 [Identified by @terrifique.]

Degas, whose work already appeared in the second episode, was a French painter of the 19th to early 20th century. His impressionist paintings often depicted ballet dancers, racehorses, and human portraits of isolation.

Krumau on the Molde, Kneeling Girl with Spanish Skirt and Self portrait in a jerkin with right elbow raised

Egon Schiele, 1912, 1911 and 1914

Schiele, whose work we have also been seeing around Rue Royale since the pilot, was an Austrian Expressionist painter, very prolific despite passing before turning 30. His work is recognizable for its transgressive portrayal of the nude body, including his nude self-portraits; but his later oeuvre features many landscapes.

The Kitten's Art Lesson

Henriette Ronner Knip, 1821-1909 [Identified by @terrifique.]

Knip was a Dutch-Belgian romantic style artist best known for paintings of animals, particularly cats and dogs of a playful nature. See more of her work here.

Nosferatu

F.W. Murnau, 1922

Nosferatu is a silent expressionist horror film from the legendary German director F.W. Murnau. It is an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. While not a commercial success upon release in 1922, film historians now consider it an influential and revolutionary film in the horror genre. Since it has been in the public domain since 2019 in the U.S., it is now free to stream on YouTube.

Untitled piece

Sadie Sheldon, undated [Identified by @lanepryce.]

The incredible metalwork piece on the wall of the reading room was made by a New Orleans-based artist, for New Orleans... pizzeria! It was made for Pizza Delicious, using dozens of tin cans. Sheldon describes her work as "site and time-specific projects from found materials (...) related to adaptability, renewal, and appreciating the objects of our everyday life".

New York

George Bellows, 1911 [Identified by @nicodelenfent, here.]

Several of Bellows' pieces have been featured in previous episodes. He was an American realist painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in NYC. His work "revolutionized the conventions of the traditional American urban vista and surpassed the efforts of other contemporary urban realists" [x].

Backstage at the Opera

Jean Beraurd, 1889

Beraurd was a Russian born French painter known for his depictions of Parisian life and society during the Belle Epoque. [Identified by @nicodelenfent.]

Unidentified works

In Claudia's room: above the Knip we can see a painting of what looks like four people, maybe women sitting at a balcony. To the left of the door we can see, on top, a floral bouquet over a dark background, and below that, an illustration or painting of a woman with flowers over a bright pink background.

You can see all unidentified works from the first season in this post. If you spot or put a name to any other references, let us know if you'd like us to add them with credit to the post!

Starting tomorrow, we will be rewatching and discussing Episode 5, A Vile Hunger for your Hammering Heart. We can't wait to hear your thoughts!

And, if you're just getting caught up, learn all about our group rewatch here ►

[artnwill]

List of some of my favorite artists

Norbertine Bresslern-Roth: She was an Austrian printmaker and painter who was born in 1891 and died in 1978.

I absolutely love the softness that she captured in her artwork and the personality that shines through in her animal paintings. Her art changed later on into more of a graphical design due to the rise of printmaking and I really enjoy the shapes she captures in some of her later works.

Jessica Taylor: Honesty such amazing work. I'm inspired so much by her amazing knowledge in lighting and how it effects the mood in her drawings and how well it adds to the realism of the subjects she draws. Her social for those interested https://www.artstation.com/jesserintaylor

Franklin Booth: He was an early 20th century illustrator. As a child he would often look for references to study from to learn how to draw. He often referenced wood engravings, which would inspire him to draw in a very similar style but instead done with pen and ink.

Honestly I love this type of art. I have always been fascinated by pen and ink drawings and Booths works really wows me not with just the technical side but also his patience. Even though my hands ache while looking at some of his artworks lol I really enjoy them and just the amount of depth he was able to capture with just lines.

Jean Giraud- He was a French artist, cartoonist, and writer born in 1938 through 2012. He would also go by Moebius and other pseudonyms.

I really enjoy his works because of his use of color and line. Most of the lines made in his works look to me to be done by technical pens which use one single line variation. I also really enjoy how he uses color theory in many of his artworks including the one pictured above to the right, in which he use the complementary colors of yellow and purple with hints of orange that match the blueness of the purple.

So this was just a small list of some of my favorite artists ( if I added more we would be here all day lol) that I get inspiration from. Wanted to write this blog for myself as a nice way to have a place were I can go back and reference some of my favorite artists drawings but also to show others different artists that they may not know of.

[lostfunzones]

‘My Love’ (1925).

French illustrator René Vincent (1879-1936) for ‘La Vie Parisienne’ magazine. René Vincent was a French illustrator, painter and poster designer. Prevalent in the 1920s-1930s, he worked in the popular Art Deco style. His illustrations helped define early 20th-century advertising, birthing countless imitators and admirers alike. Tintin creator, Hergé, cited René Vincent as an inspiration.

He created perfect worlds with glamour fashionistas in luxury settings, partaking in jolly pastimes. His characters were vibrant and confident. Which in turn attracted many fashion and lifestyle periodicals such as La Vie Parisienne, Femina, Le Rire, and Fantasio. Interestingly, he went under a few pseudonyms, Rene Mael, Rageot and Dufour, allowing him to change style freely.

[fatehbaz]

Caribbean cruise vacations have a long violent history. Earlier today, I came across one of the early print advertisement illustrations for the Caribbean cruise ship vacations offered by “the Great White Fleet.” And I pondered bananas.

Just as uncomfortable as it sounds. The story of the origin of the Caribbean cruise industry is, after all, also the story of the origin of the term “Banana Republic.”

In 1914, the Great War began as the planet’s powerful empires of old were collapsing, as British, French, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, Russian, and Qing/Chinese powers were marred by internal revolt and global warfare. But in 1914, the United States completed their Panama Canal and consolidated power in Latin America and the Caribbean, celebrating the ascent of a “new” empire made strong, in part, by bananas.

As of 2022, bananas generate 12 billion dollars per year, with 75% of bananas exported from Latin America and the Caribbean.

The planet’s single biggest banana-producing company is Chiquita. The Chiquita brand was previously known as United Fruit Company, which had essentially monopolized the banana industry in Latin America. United Fruit Company has a bit of an image problem, following its theft of Indigenous land across Central America in the early 20th century; its role in provoking the killing of tens of hundreds/thousands of plantation laborers during the Banana Massacre of 1928; the company’s direct role in the CIA-backed toppling of the Guatemala government in the 1950s; and the company’s role in paying to harass and intimidate labor organizers in Colombia in recent decades.

But what of the “romance” and “adventure” of the Caribbean?

So it’s 1915 or 1916.

Middle of the Great War. Classic empires are disintegrating: Spanish empire, British empire, Austro-Hungarian empire, Russian empire, Ottoman empire, remnants of the Qing/Chinese state, etc. And whose empire is rising? United States, an empire expanding in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. After the 1898 Spanish-US war, as Teddy Roosevelt’s cartoon cavalry conquered Cuba, the Spanish Main belongs to the US of A. The US Navy controlled the Caribbean Sea, and was aiming to expand across the Pacific Ocean, to Hawai’i and beyond.

But the official US Navy isn’t the only fleet upholding the empire. The United Fruit Company had its own fleet.

The text of one of these Great White Fleet ads, from 1916, adorned with imagery of a blue-and-gold macaw and an aerial map of the Caribbean, reads:

“[W]here winter never comes and where the soft trade winds bring renewed health. [W]ith all the comforts and all the luxuries of life you enjoy aboard the palatial ships of the GREAT WHITE FLEET. Delicious meals a la carte [...]. Dainty staterooms, perfectly ventilated [...]. [A]mid the scenes of romance and history in the Caribbean. And with it the opportunity to win for yourself a treasure of health and happiness, of greater benefit than the fabled fountain of youth, sought by Spanish adventurers in the tropic isles of the Spanish Main.”

Who’s leading the charge?

The United Fruit Company!

From the May 1916 issue of Red Book. Image source, from Archive dot org:

Another:

Image source, from Archive dot org:

“There the Pirates hid their Gold -- and every voyage, every port, every route of the Great White Fleet through the Golden Caribbean has the romance of buried treasure, pirate ships an deeds of adventure [...].”

The Golden Caribbean.

The same region where Columbus murdered Indigenous people, where the US and France had just spent 100 years punishing Haiti with unending economic warfare afters slaves rebelled against colonization, and where the United Fruit Company would now set up shop.

The company’s plantations would expand across Central America, establishing brutal racial hierarchies and essentially controlling federal governments of Central American nations.

In 1928, over 30,000 laborers were on strike at banana plantations in Colombia. They demanded payment of actual wages, rather than the credits they were given which were mostly only redeemable at company-owned stores in company towns. The US government threatened to send the Marine Corps to intervene if the “subversive” workers would not return to UFC’s plantations. In December 1928, after martial law had been declared, General Cortes Vargas entered the town square of Cienaga (Magdalena) during Sunday gatherings, with machine guns, opening fire on the crowds, and killing perhaps 3,000 people.

In the late 1940s, the United Fruit Company intensified its ad campaigns led by propagandist Edward Bernays (nephew of Sigmund Freud???), who also practiced his skill at manipulative advertising when working to popularize the American Tobacco Company by showing women smoking “torches of freedom” and linking “women’s rights” to cigarette iconography.

Bernays, who explicitly wrote about his “counter-Communist” intention in the ads, was “drafted” in the war to topple ascendant leftist governments. After 1944 and after Arevalo’s labor reforms, Jacobo Arbenz Guzman took control of Guatemala in 1951, and took over 200,000 acres from United Fruit Company and returned them to poor families. Bernays launched propaganda attacks against Guatemala, helping to plant stories about Guatemala eventually carried in the Saturday Evening Post, New York Herald Tribune, and Reader’s Digest. In January 1952, Bernays personally led a tour of Central America, accompanying publishers and editors of Newsweek, the Miami Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Cincinnati Enquirer, Scripps-Howard, and Time magazine. When the CIA-trained military force led by Carlos Castillo Armas invaded Guatemala, with CIA aerial support, installing Castillo Armas as president, Bernays called them an “army of liberation.”

Bananas and Caribbean cruises aren’t the only culprits in expanding imperial power in Latin America, the tropics, and the Global South.

In 1914, the same year that the United States finished the Panama Canal and consolidated power in Latin America and the Caribbean, Richard Strong was a newly appointed director of Harvard’s new Department of Tropical Medicine. Strong was also appointed director of the Laboratories of the Hospitals and of Research Work at United Fruit Company. Strong toured the company’s plantations in Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and Cuba. In the coming years, Strong would also personally approach Harvey Firestone, chief executive of the Firestone company, which owned and brutally operated rubber plantations in tropical West Africa. Research in tropical medicine was thus inaugurated by and dependent on colonial/imperial plantations and racial/social hierarchies at United Fruit Company and Firestone sites across the tropical regions, planetwide. Strong is just one character that demonstrates the interconnectedness of academia, fruit plantations, rubber supplies, food distribution, motor vehicle industries, strike-breakers, military forces, imperial expansion, and other tendrils of violently-enforced racist power.

Today, in 2022, Chiquita maintains twenty thousand employees across 70 countries. 

I think about this as I eat a banana for lunchtime. I think about this when I see the Edenic portrayal of a Caribbean shore, a landscape baked not so much by the tropical sun but instead scarred by centuries of genocide, slavery, and plantation labor, where government officials gleefully report “with honor” on the massacre of thousands.

“Just a banana, it ain’t.”

Agreed.

[soapkaars]

this is kind of a series of questions in one big question but do you think any Peter Lorre characters have tattoos and if so, who is it, where do they have it, and what does the tattoo look like? (I kinda have this feeling that at least one of them has a tattoo that says "Kleine" (baby girl in german) in cursive and it's embellished with hearts)

Oh this is such a fun ask!! I spent way too much time on this and it’s three in the morning now but here goes!

First up is Victor Emmric from The Verdict:

Everyone’s favourite morbid illustrator from the Victorian era, if anyone has a tattoo, he surely does. I’m imagining a gothic Victorian vampire tattoo with an edgy snake across, and because Victor is somewhat of a wine woman and life man, he’s also got a very shitty tattoo drawn on in a drunken mood on his hip. Live every regret tattoo it has an ex-flame named on there, later corrected in another drunk mood with another ill-fated name

Next, there’s Marko from Black Angel:

Ever the sentimentalist, I think it’s extremely in character to have a tattoo on his chest with his daughter’s name on there. I’m thinking it’ll be something very simple, a bunch of roses for instance, because Marko isn’t one for grand gestures.

Kismet from My Favourite Brunette:

Our (my) favourite French-speaking, knife-wielding, civics test studying butler/gardener! This man is definitely tattooed, and I’m going all in. I’m giving him a badass French tattoo with obscure symbolism, knives, blackjack and hookers. A bizarre collection of symbolism only he knows and understands and something that’ll instantly intimidate mild-mannered photographers who fancy themselves to be a detective!

Gino from The Chase:

Love or hate this film, I certainly love its weirdness and proto-Lynchian atmosphere. Gino is an Italian name, so I settled on some Neapolitan mafia tattoos, and I think they fit well with the character.

The General from The Secret Agent:

Does this man look like he makes well-thought out decisions? I’m imagining an early 20th century version of a tramp stamp: on the lower back just above his crack, a sword piercing a heart, a crudely drawn woman cleaved in two, and some latin meaning ‘shit bitch’. An edgy shitpost of a tattoo! Also to answer your question, this man is the most likely candidate to wake up one morning with ‘babygirl’ tattooed on his buttcheeks. The design of which I’ll leave as an exercise to the reader…

Finally, Abbott from The Man Who Knew too Much:

The man has a scar and painted hair. How would he not have a tattoo? But, being Abbott, it’s gonna be a map of the prison he last stayed (and escaped from). Also an anarchist black cat because I like it and I think he carries his politics on his sleeve.

I was too tired to draw more, so honorary mentions to:

Nick Dramoshag from Quicksand. He’s bitter, he runs an arcade, he drinks, he smokes, he’s a nasty crook with a switchblade… This is definitely a man with a faded sweetheart tattoo.

Marius from Passage to Marseille. He was a prisoner on Devil’s Island, I don’t think many would come away uninked from there. Maybe the amazing lockpick has a little safe in a heart tattooed on his arm?

Major Siegfried Grüning from Lancer Spy. My headcanon is that this guy eventually becomes The General, so he’s gonna have the ‘shitbitch’ tramp stamp and ‘babygirl’.

Mr Strangdour from Muscle Beach Party. The strongest man in the world, I think he might have some fun ones under that turtleneck of his.

[sassafrasmoonshine]

Léo Fontan, illustrator (French, 1884-1965) • Illustration for La Vie Parisienne • 1920s

[eirene]

La danseuse Georges Antoine Rochegrosse

[baberoe-archive]

Zombie apocalypse or robot apocalypse?

Since we're bringing back ask culture!

since we’re bringing back ask culture… together 🤝🤧💖🫶

idk honestly…. my instinct is to say zombie i think shes a classic and i love the threat of a loved one becoming the very being you are fighting, especially if its a slow transition and you get a moment of the character fighting it and inevitably losing….. ugh so good. also shoutout to community season 2 episode 6 epidemiology you will always be that bitch. however i have been doing some reading on the machine and modernism and there is something so fascinating about the way modernists articulate a machine-human hybrid where like its almost the machine acting as a virus taking over humanity, and (at least in what ive been researching) it seems like this is usually articulated as like. the laborer mechanized or the city dweller disappearing into an increasingly mechanical landscape but there is also a throughline in early cinema especially of filmed people as ghosts that i think is very interesting…. all this to say i think zombie is the classic safe choice for me but a well done version of early 20th century mechanized apocalypse would be super cool. idk if it would translate well to the 21st for me though… idk i think ai taking over is feeling a bit worn as a subject for me recently lol

and actually you know what. might as well plug what the research is for lol. im writing a paper on this book written in 1919 by blaise cendrars with illustrations by fernand léger called the end of the world filmed by the angel of notre dame. super interesting here is a link to the full book. its in french but even if you cant read it i think the illustrations are nifty 👍

[lesblizzard-ultradyke]

ok here's the thing first time I talked to that orbiter I was confused when he was like yeah actually you don't know your fucking history because gay also meant a shit ton of a bad shit before being used to refer to homosexuality.

I think I kind of have it settled in my head now but I am kind of confused why I never saw anyone on radblr say this. I literally beg someone to talk with me about this.

according to wikipedia

In English, the word's primary meaning was "joyful", "carefree", "bright and showy", and the word was very commonly used with this meaning in speech and literature. For example, the optimistic 1890s are still often referred to as the Gay Nineties. The title of the 1938 French ballet Gaîté Parisienne ("Parisian Gaiety"), which became the 1941 Warner Brothers movie, The Gay Parisian,[10] also illustrates this connotation.

this part I heard from people a lot ig, it's somewhat a common knowledge that gay means happy.

The word may have started to acquire associations of immorality as early as the 14th century, but had certainly acquired them by the 17th.[2] By the late 17th century, it had acquired the specific meaning of "addicted to pleasures and dissipations",[11] an extension of its primary meaning of "carefree" implying "uninhibited by moral constraints". A gay woman was a prostitute, a gay man a womanizer, and a gay house a brothel.

this was what confused me! I literally never heard about it and maybe shame on me but I also never saw anyone talk about it on radblr. like. doesn't anyone else find it interesting how "gay" changed from meaning "carefree" as in "happy" and "free" to "carefree" as in "uninhibited by moral constraints" or "immoral"? actually I don't even think it changed it's meaning just got a whole other while still having this "carefree" one.

The use of gay to mean "homosexual" was often an extension of its application to prostitution: a gay boy was a young man or boy serving male clients.[14] Similarly, a gay cat was a young male apprenticed to an older hobo and commonly exchanging sex and other services for protection and tutelage.[2] The application to homosexuality was also an extension of the word's sexualized connotation of "carefree and uninhibited", which implied a willingness to disregard conventional or respectable sexual mores. Such usage, documented as early as the 1920s, was likely present before the 20th century,[2] although it was initially more commonly used to imply heterosexually unconstrained lifestyles, as in the once-common phrase "gay Lothario",[15] or in the title of the book and film The Gay Falcon (1941), which concerns a womanizing detective whose first name is "Gay".

so it wasn't that gay was a specific word for insulting homosexuality as I thought at first but just a word that was used to shame on all of the "sexual deviancy" which could literally mean both homosexuality and pedophilia. so it's not like "gay" meant "sexual deviancy" or "homosexuality" or "pedophilia" but was used to describe those. the same way "freak" doesn't mean homosexual just because people call homosexuals freaks. maybe it's not even something that hard to understand but it really took me time to fully realise that.

Bringing Up Baby (1938) was the first film to use the word gay in an apparent reference to homosexuality. In a scene in which Cary Grant's character's clothes have been sent to the cleaners, he is forced to wear a woman's feather-trimmed robe. When another character asks about his robe, he responds, "Because I just went gay all of a sudden!" Since this was a mainstream film at a time, when the use of the word to refer to cross-dressing (and, by extension, homosexuality) would still be unfamiliar to most film-goers, the line can also be interpreted to mean, "I just decided to do something frivolous."[19]

also I don't understand why they call this line here a reference to homosexuality when it refers to cross-dressing and has nothing to do with homosexuality??

By the mid-20th century, gay was well established in reference to hedonistic and uninhibited lifestyles[11] and its antonym straight, which had long had connotations of seriousness, respectability, and conventionality, had now acquired specific connotations of heterosexuality.

I used to not like using "straight" to heteros because it reminded me a lot about the russian word we usually use for heteros which is literally "natural" and I really hate that word because it implies that something is not natural with gays, but then I started using it because literally everyone here is using it and I kind of thought maybe it's not like that in english but this part of the page makes me think it's actually way too similar to how it is in russian.

and then homosexual people decided to use the word "gay" in its positive meaning to describe themselves. and I think this is the answer I was looking for? the problem with "queer" is that it started as "strange" and it is being "reclaimed" as "strange" or "positive strange" or "unique" or "unusual" rather than homosexuality just being seen as normal and usual.

so when people started calling themselves gay they called themselves happy and free and joyful and when people started calling themselves queer they called themselves strange and different.

idk!!! maybe it is all so painfully obvious that no one sees a reason to talk about it but it's so interesting to me can someone please please please talk about it I also have only one source in the face of wikipedia because all those other sites I find all are "queeryqueer.com" and copy-paste from wikipedia mostly.

[artmialma]

George Barbier  (1882–1932) was one of the great French illustrators of the early 20th century.