This was such an emotional rollercoaster to read in the best way! Knowing our queer history is so important and we owe so much to those who came before us, who risked incarceration or worse just by being themselves and trying to build a better future for queer people. I teared up at several parts because the sheer bravery and courage of these people astounds me. Queer history is rarely brought up and it's so important, especially now, to know that there were queer people before us and there will be queer people after and its our duty to honour those before us by trying to build a better and more inclusive future for those who will come after. We will always be here. I will definitely be buying this in print once it's published. Thank you so much to the editors for their important work, it means a lot to me and other queer people.

A fascinating deep dive to queer photography since the invention of the camera, its impact on society and society's impact on it. It's a beautifully written book, with each chapter a different topic (and I appreciate very much having an entire chapter focused on Black queerness, also!).

My only note is that the photographs are oddly spread out throughout the book, very rarely appearing on the same page, or even in the same chapter, as the text that talks about it. I imagine this was a layouting challenge and I can understand how they'd come to the conclusion of putting a few pictures throughout and then just sort of spreading out the rest at the end of each chapter consecutively, but it made it hard to examine the photographs at the same time as the text; nevertheless, I'm not sure there's another solution.

(The photographs in the ARC version were highly pixellated, but I imagine that's because this is a pre-publication advance reader compressed version and I cannot imagine this problem will persist in a finalized version).

Thank you to Getty Publications and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well, if you thought that photography and the evolution of “the arts” was anything other than controversial, boundary-blurring, and meant to make you step outside of your comfort zone to see more of life, you may be shocked by this one. If you already knew that art by definition is meant to be thought-provoking, exposing, and even political, then you’re still going to learn something here.

This is an excellent timeline of proving just how LGBTQ+ people have always existed, are now, and will always be, world without end, amen. And yeah, I blasphemed a little there, and I wasn’t even holding a rosary. But it’s true. Legislating people into being a crime simply by living doesn’t change the fact that the beauty in life is captured within these pages. These are people who sought to find solace, maybe solidarity, and to uplift others who have long doubted their place in the world. They’re also people who wished to show the folks who vilify them that they aren’t the enemy. They’re just humans trying to live.

It’s a little sad, honestly. The timeline that is spelled out by decade, year, event, and upheavals is a reminder of how far we’ve come, but also how little time has passed and how disappointingly some people are determined to backslide into hate all over again. It’s still a book full of excellent information and some lessons in how to simply appreciate life, and I wish that more would take it for the truth of personalities that it clearly is.

There are a few formatting issues, which I assume are due to the nature of the ARC, but wow—what a powerful journey into queer culture.

It’s all too easy to forget the sacrifices of those who came before us, the ones who paved the way for the queer culture we know today. This book captures that history beautifully, tracing the queer experience from the 1700s to the present day.

Through a queer lens, we’re treated to stunning photography paired with incredibly detailed and fascinating descriptions of time periods throughout.

In short, this is a breathtaking journey—one that moved me to tears more than once.

It’s a must read if you want to learn more about the queer community.

Queer Lens explores the force of photography and the role that has played in increasing queer visibility since it was invented. Essays and testimonials are explored through the history of the manifestations of queer culture and celebration of people resisting harsh times. It also included portraits of queer individuals, visual records of queer kinship, and documentary photographs of early queer groups and protests.

This is an excellent book to dive into queer history and how the community was always there and how they faced hardship. When I hear that queer people didn’t exist before 1900, I’ll show them this book. The timeline and the pictures prove that the community was always there, the solidarity always existed and will always be there no matters what governments do.
Each chapter as a different subject and it contains excellent and very detailed information on how each decade, year and events played a role in the queer community.

I loved reading about it and it felt very complete. There are things I didn’t know about and it’s was an amazing experience. It’s rare to see all the history and pictures all in a single book. I know there’s a lot of work behind it. It was very interesting to learn more about decades. I give it 5 stars because it’s not something I can judge. It’s not fiction and it’s not a story. It happened with real people. The book is well made, it flows easily and the research is very complete.

Really incredible overview and analysis of photography from the lens (hehe) of queer artists spanning from the mid 1800s to today. I don't know much about art history but this book made me want to learn more, especially about the work of queer artists of colour which the book points out have been marginalized over white queer photographers (not surprising).

Overall this book is worth the read and I learned a lot about our history. The only reason I am not giving 5 stars is because some of the essays in the book were super academic which is fine if it's that audience, but it would be nice if they were a bit more accessible to a broader audience. In particular, the chapter "Seeing the Overlooked" was the hardest to understand for me (and I have a graduate social science degree so am more familiar than the average person with academic writing). It's a super important chapter and some edits to pare down some of the extra wordiness would be helpful, as well as some brief definition of concepts (e.g. overdetermining, which was a term used frequently in the essay).

Thank you for the eARC - I'm certain that in print this book will be gorgeous!

A really beautiful, thorough exploration of lgbtq+ photography and the use of photography in public, private and political ways throughout time. The writing is deeply researched and enlightening. It’s emotional to see these photos across the ages and read about some triumphs and some regressions when you compare then to now…
It’s a beautiful mix of emotions and a great mix of photos from across time coupled with writing and essays that explore everything deeply.
I learnt a lot more than I expected to as it’s a topic I felt I was quite knowledgeable in already!
The images were quite pixelated on this arc but great nonetheless! I’m excited to see it out in the world and buy it as a physical copy!

I got this as an arc on Netgalley and it will come out in June. Yes yes yes yes!! Queer art books are EVERYTHING. This one was no different. The specific focus on photography and the smooth way in which works got connected, not the mention a good historical timeline? It's so good!

I start by giving my thanks for this book to Netgalley and Getty Publishing.

This book is awesome. Beautifully created work and well crafted and referenced.

It's one of the rare photography books focusing on queer visions in photography and promoting the work and history of so much of the talentuous and grandiose queer photographers paving our history.

The essays coming with the collection of photographies are top notch. Greatly detailed and interesting. A good way to partner with the photographies to show more of what queer history is made of and how much canceled, repressed but loud we are. A perfect way to give visibility to what/who they tried to hide.

I found some of my favorite photographers along those pages and I was happy to discover new photographers and new pieces.

The quality of this book is stunning.

It is definitely one of the "beautiful book" I'll add on my shelves. And I'll definitely recommend it to my audience.

A fascinating look at the combined history of photography and queerness. The images were well integrated and were enjoyable to see while reading about the history and use of cameras. The book was also very informative, but in an interesting way. It was fun to both see and read about the past, and I think it brings an important look at the past, and shows that queer people have been around forever.

The collection of images compiled for this work, as well as the history of each piece, has obviously been extensively researched with dedication and passion. Queer Lens will make a wonderful resource for those seeking to learn more about queer art and will serve as inspiration to future generations of queer artists.

This is the type of book I need on my shelf, queer history is so important, I’m so glad this is getting published!

A fascinating query history book! I loved the variety of images and text. A book you want to keep out to reread.

Thanks to NetGalley and J. Paul Getty Museum for a copy of this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Getty Publications for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great book and a great collection of queer history. This book truly helped me realize that even though the media does not show you, queer people have been documented for much longer than I thought. This book starts with the origins of queer photography in 1839, before reading this book I have only seen queer photography from the 1900s. I am very glad I read this book and that I was exposed to more queer photographs and queer artists throughout the decades.

Some nonfiction books, especially in art, can be hard to read but these authors make the subject easy to read and to understand. There was a good balance of information and photographs, and the information was never an overwhelming amount.

As a queer person and an artist, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learning more about both queer history and art history. And I even found some new favourite artworks in this book. Even though I got a digital ARC of this book, this is a book I could see myself buying to have a physical copy.

A beautiful and moving portfolio of queer photography spanning the history of the art. Thoughtfully collected and presented alongside contextual information, Queer Lens is a gorgeous book of queer imagery. While I loved this collection and appreciated every image, I did wish to see more images of women- especially explicit photos. There were many pictures of men with men in very intimate and revealing settings but very few that had women engaging with women and none of them were sexually explicit. Whether this is an oversight of the editors or due to a lack of availability of images, I’m not sure.

This was a good read. I learned a lot and enjoyed the selected photographs. I want a copy for my art book shelf

Thank you to Getty and NetGalley for the eGalley to review!

After reading this book and looking at the photographs inside it, I firmly believe that this is one of those books that should be in academic libraries that serve the arts, humanities, history, etc. because it is incredible. It's meant to be a companion to an exhibition put up by the J. Paul Getty Museum and if you are unable to attend said exhibition, don't worry--this book has you totally covered. Each of the plates are showcased as they would be in a museum, with acknowledgements and relevant information. But this book goes even further by giving us the history of photography through a queer lens and the effect of it and various photography techniques in shaping queer culture. I am sincerely amazed by the depth and range of the content explored, going all the way back to when photography was first invented and how the French used it immediately for queer art.

If you study queer representation, culture, history, etc., this is absolutely one you want to add to a collection, because it is utterly raw in its portraits. There is a chronology included that goes back to the 1730's--when the word lesbian was first printed--and covers everything historical about queerness as it has evolved to become what we know now. There is special attention to Blackness and the queer self-portrait, along with queer imagination--giving context to the photos that look nonsensical. I think the most important thing is the selected bibliography in the back and the notes at the end of each section, showing just how deep the research and information in this book goes, far beyond its own cover. It's amazing!

My only issue with it is how small the text is, but it's fairly standard format when it comes to art books such as this. Also be warned that there is full nudity in some photographs, but every photograph has been meticulously chosen for artistic merit (this is explained in the text itself). There is complicated history here and this book is one way to help sift through that.

okay, so this was cool.

we're given a chronological look at queer photography from its inception to modern days. it's interesting because, as a queer person, i think a lot about all the stories and histories that have been lost or intentionally erased. it was nice to see evidence from the 1800's, even, of the documentation of queer people.

it was also interesting to see how photography evolved, how it was made, how it was policed, and how it impacted society. like, okay - the genderfuckery that i was seeing in photos from the early 1900's? i was living for it. or the idea that photos of men naked and touching were taken to "show the human form". there was a bit i liked, about how we used to have to hunt for the queerness or read it into photos.

also, loved the documentation of the act up era/aids crisis, which was the first time a spotlight was truly trained on queer communities and really set the tone for how media is made now.

my only gripe with this one falls on the layout of the book. a LOT of the text referred to specific photos that... you really had to search for in another part of the book. i think, if this book appeals to you, my recommendation would be to buy the physical copy so you can flip through and contextualize what you're reading.

Overall, if you are interested in photography, queer history, or both, this book is for you. I found it informative and interesting, though the text was a bit dense. I think it could have benefited from having the images it was talking about next to the text, instead of lumped together with just a note of what plate it is. The book references images that appear dozens of pages later, which is especially tricky in ebook form. The format made the book, while interesting, difficult to read.

One a small note, I would have also appreciated an inclusion of the fact one of their historical pictures in the book, "V-J Day in Times Square" is of a sexual assault, if they felt the need to include the image at all, especially given it was used to discuss another work (which was not in the book until 200 pages later) that turns it queer.

"The extremely provisional nature of queer culture is the thing that makes its transmission so fragile." - from Nayland Blake's 1995 essay, quoted here in Queer Lens.
Thorough, comprehensive, definitive reporting and reflecting on Queer photography's history, encompassing both queer subjects and queer photographers. Entire phrases that made me pause and think incredibly deeply about my own queerness and our collective community memory, both in quotes pulled from other authors like the above and from the writers of this text themselves. This is one to return to over and over again.

Wonderful! What a way to start off pride month. Will get a physical copy and show it to anyone stepping in my house.

Preserving pieces of queer history is more important than ever today, and that makes this collection of photos so valuable. I'd very happily have this book on my coffee table.

This collection of journalistic and artistic photos documents both the political and the private moments of our history. Whenever I see black-and-white photos of queer people who lived long before me, there's that feeling in my chest, that "we've always been here" thought that I'm sure we all recognize. It fills me with so much queer joy. We're still here.

Whether I'd open this book to a photo captured at a protest, or to an artistic shot that should hang in a gallery, it's a picture that I could look at for ages.

Thank you to Getty Publications and NetGalley for the eARC.

This book is a powerful compilation of queer photography since the invention of the photo. From subject, to artist, to both, we have intimate moments between couples and highly staged art, and everything in between.

I definitely recommend reading this physically, I was lucky enough to get an eARC from Netgalley, but the format made it very hard to fully enjoy. A coffee table book for sure! Just make sure your coffee table is no where near any children, as nudity and pornographic photos abound!

All in all, I enjoyed the read, and I learned a lot about both photography, and queer history. Because of the nature of the subject, the book had a very Western lens, but I think that can be excused by the availability of photography throughout history. In this time of uncertainty and fear, where queerness is threatened by governments world wide, it is ever so important to have physical media representation of our history, and I think this is a good place to start.

rich, raw, and so important

Queer Lens: A History of Photography is a gorgeously curated book accompaniment to the free entry Getty Center exhibit that will be open from June 17 until September 28! Not 30 seconds passed after finishing this book before I was browsing the Getty exhibit calendar.

The images included in this publication truly capture queer history in a subversive way, outlining the impact that queer photography, being photographs of queer people and/or photographs taken by queer people, have had on queer culture, intersectionality, representation, and visibility.

Each section was beautifully executed, and the afterword "To Be Seen" was a wonderful way to conclude the work. I am itching to visit the exhibit as soon as it is open, and I urge anyone else who has the ability to do so to visit.

I will absolutely be referencing this in papers moving forward!