Romaine Brooks’s iconic painting of Renata Borgatti, Au Paino, 1920 March 2, 1894 - Renata Borgatti She was a celebrated classical musician, performing all over Europe and the United States of America. The Italian Island of Capri is the site the ruins of Emperor … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Writer, Natalie Clifford Barney
NY Public Library Archives October 31, 1876 - Natalie Clifford Barney: "My queerness is not a vice, is not deliberate, and harms no one." She was one of the most compelling and maddening women of the 19th and early 20th centuries. She was a great seducer whose list of … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Artist, Romaine Brooks
May 1, 1874 -Romaine Brooks When Brooks was finally discovered by the art world, she was in her 90s and all but forgotten, even in Paris, where she'd spent much of her life. For many queer artists, their sexuality had insignificant impact or reflection on their work, but Brooks … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Impresario / Dancer, Ida Rubenstein
1922, public domain October 5, 1883 – Ida Rubenstein I think her life story is begging to be adapted to film. Rubinstein was an actor and dancer of modest skill, and Russian femme fatale whose star burned bright in Paris for half a century. An outsider for being Russian, … [Read more...]