Women Together / Women Apart: Portraits of Lesbian Paris
by Tirza True Latimer
Ruthers University Press. 144 pages, $24.95
MANY LESBIAN READERS are familiar with the discernible lesbian presence in Paris during the long weekend between World War I and World War II. We know it by their presence at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore and at Gertrude Stein’s salon. We know it through literature and biography. We may have seen photographs of these women, but most of us haven’t considered what these photos actually mean. Today we tend to take lesbian images for granted. While k d lang, Ellen DeGeneres, and Melissa Etheridge are visible lesbian icons, there is no uniformity to the lesbian image because, unfortunately, lesbians are still held up next to straight women rather than next to other lesbians to construct categories of normal. Tiraz True Latimer’s Women Together / Women Apart doesn’t make this mistake.
Latimer explores paintings and photos of, or about, four lesbian artists, Romaine Brooks, Claude Cahun, Marcel Moore, and Suzy Solidor, who fled to Paris in the early part of the 20th century. Readers looking for biographical information about these artists will come away disappointed. What Latimer has done is to liberate lesbian images from the bounds of typical comparisons. She thoroughly analyzes the images of these women, and in doing so she paints her own portrait of the lesbian in Paris. After reading Latimer’s introduction, I was concerned that the treatment of these artists would be, at best, uneven. I based this on the fact that the women whose art Latimer analyzes all worked in different media. Romaine Brooks was a painter; Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore were photographers. And Suzy Solidor’s art wasn’t visual; in fact, she was a club owner and a singer. However, Latimer anticipates this problem and responds, “Admittedly, to unite same-sex relationships and cultures of the contemporary era—let alone those of 1920’s and 1930’s Paris—under a single rubric is to create an illusion of coherence and uniformity where inconsistency and diversity are indicated.” Set into the text are myriad black-and-white photo portraits. And we soon see that the thread that binds these women together is the portrait—I would say self-portrait, except in the case of Suzy Solidor, whom Latimer examines through portraits of her rather than by her. Next, her analysis puts these images into context for the reader by presenting philosophical and psychological theories, as well as the opinions of some art critics of the time. The role of women during that period is an important force. Painting is considered only a hobby for women, not a profession. Observes Latimer: “Until well into the twentieth century, art academics in Paris held segregated life drawing classes and provided separate studios for female students; female students paid twice what male students paid for classes and studio space.” The back cover claims this is a “highly readable” book. But I think Women Together / Women Apart would be a challenge for the average college freshman who hasn’t yet developed skills in scholarly analysis. And I maintain that’s exactly why Latimer’s book should be in scholarly libraries and should be (if not required reading) on the bibliography of freshman art history classes. Latimer’s book might teach a few nineteen-year-olds, not only the process of visual analysis, but also that lesbians didn’t just step off the boat with Ellen DeGeneres. Martha Miller is a Midwestern writer whose latest novel is Tales from the Levee.
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