First gay antiques dealer?
Dec. 18th, 2023 03:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexxkayThis trope came up in conversation recently. It goes back at least to Agatha Christie's Murder is Easy (1939). But was that the first? I haven't found any prior literature with this trope. Arguably homosexuality was "invented" in 1869, so it's unlikely the trope predates that. I have found a painting of a real gay antiques dealer, who is strongly visually coded as such, from 1926. "Roberto Montenegro’s iconic portrait of the antiques dealer Chucho Reyes (1926) features the limp wrist, the tilted chin, and the wry smile that signified a certain type of man." Anyone else have insight to share on this?
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-19 12:14 am (UTC)Not as such, except that I would be very surprised if Christie's character were the first fictional expression. Antiques feels like interior decoration in that both professions are stereotypically associated with (male) queerness and "aesthetic." Margot Canaday's Queer Career: Sexuality and Work in Modern America (2023) wouldn't go back far enough to answer your question, but still looks interetsing.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-12-20 04:40 pm (UTC)