Dazzling, erotic, groundbreaking—the queer alternative history of modernism. 

Desire, eroticism, playing with gender—these qualities in the works of queer artists are not regarded here as external to the creative process, but rather as foundational. By approaching the art through a perspective of queer aesthetics, the aim is to discover the visual worlds of hitherto little-known figures of international modernism, from Eastern and Western Europe and North and South America.

This volume reflects how the artists experiment with alternative lifestyles to produce new visual languages, perspectives, and queer aesthetics. Modern utopias of abolishing the gender binary, queer avant-gardes, and the potential in queer readings of abstraction are some of the compelling topics presented in this volume, which also recounts the history of queer lives during war, persecution, and resistance.

Featured artists include Natalie Clifford Barney, Richmond Barthé, Rosa Bonheur, Romaine Brooks, Til Brugman, Paul Cadmus, Claude Cahun, Heinrich Campendonk, Jean Cocteau, Ithell Colquhoun, Nils Dardel, Beauford Delaney, Leonor Fini, Gluck, Hannah Höch, Ludwig von Hofmann, Valentine Hugo, Robin Ironside, Lotte Laserstein, Marie Laurencin, George Platt Lynes, Maria Martins, Marcel Moore, Marlow Moss, Ismael Nery, Richard Bruce Nugent, Meret Oppenheim, Milena Pavlović-Barili, Glyn Warren Philpot, Gregorio Prieto, Anton Prinner, Sonja Sekula, Florine Stettheimer, Pavel Tchelitchew, Toyen, Paule Vézeley, Ethel Walker, Nicolaas Warb, Gerda Wegener, and Irène Zurkinden.