used by queer artists to represent unspoken desires. A wellknown example is the green carnations that were used by gay men during the Oscar Wilde era to identify one another. By the end of the 1950’s, Wonner began painting male nudes holding flowers. In these coded images, he subverted the aggressive masculinity of the Abstract Expressionists (think Jackson Pollock), offering a portrayal of virility that was gentle, vulnerable, and sensual. Another example, and one of his best-known paintings, is the large triptych Seven Views of the Model with Flowers (1962), which can be interpreted as another one of his arcadian landscapes or even as a religious image. All seven men have halos, echoing Jesus and his disciples. Wonner’s œuvre includes frequent coded images of pansies. The word “pansy” is, of course, one of many anti-gay slurs. In his strikingFrench Still Life (1990), a vase with pansies stands proudly above books depicting French and English artists, implicitly claiming that queer artists are at the top of the artistic canon. His landmark paintingGlasses with Pansies (1968) portrays two isolated and distant pansies, mirroring the sense of isolation felt by Wonner and Brown. Despite the tight-knit nature of their Movement, both artists knew that, as a gay couple, they would always remain outsiders to some degree. This fact inevitably impacted their work, infusing it with imagery of absence and isolation. Wonner and Brown moved to Santa Monica in 1961 when Wonner became an art instructor at UCLA. They took morning swims and, while this should normally be a joyful activity, Brown’s paintingMuscatine Diver (1963) depicts a somber landscape and an ominous sky, with a sense of disconnection as one man turns away from the other. Wonner frequently portrayed empty chairs, a recurring motif symbolizing loss. In 1962, the two artists developed a close friendship with writer Christopher Isherwood and his partner, artist Don Bachardy. Their weekly gatherings for conversation and sketching often took place at Isherwood’s home. Works from these sessions are difficult to identify, given Wonner’s tendency to title pieces using only initials, possibly to widen their appeal or to conceal the identities of their social circle. For instance, Wonner cryptically referred to Brown as “W. B.,” and, in the enigmatic portrait Living Room at I’s (1964), the “I” refers to Isherwood. The unfocused faces in this painting allow for varied interpretations—potentially representing Isherwood and Bachardy or perhaps even Wonner and Brown themselves. Upon their brief return to Berkeley in 1974, Brown created provocative artworks portraying explicit homosexual and heterosexual acts, which remained unseen in public until the 1990s. Wonner sought solace in literature to better understand his identity as a gay man, finding resonance in Walt Whitman’s writings. His tribute series to Whitman includes American Men Thinking of Walt Whitman (1975), which features burly men under a rainbow, three years before the rainbow flag became the symbol of the LGBT community. In 2001, Wonner faced physical challenges when his back gave out, prompting their move to a seniors’ residence in San Francisco. During this period, Wonner delved back into the male form with a series titled “Youth and Old Age.” Through intimate gouaches, he fearlessly tackled aging and mortality, starkly contrasting portraits of himself, clothed and aged, with nude, youthful male models. Commented Wonner: “I feel that they are both me. The art connects us.” The way the poses of artist and model mirror each other underscores this connection. According to Brown, Wonner created these self-portraits as a way to be remembered for posterity. The images created by Wonner and Brown are not their only legacy to the LGBT community. They donated over 1,800 works to the Crocker Museum in Sacramento, to be sold with proceeds supporting acquisition and exhibition of art by emerging LGBT artists, thus leaving a lasting gift of support for the community’s artistic endeavors. Wonner once remarked: “Being gay was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. It gave me a direction that I might not have had otherwise and made me not afraid of being an outsider and being by myself. It also gave me a lot of courage to just blunder ahead and do things.” Theophilus Brown declared: “Because of the constant opposition under which we live, we become very strong. We look deeper into things because we are forced to. In a way it’s a great privilege. I would choose to be gay if there had been a choice at all.” Wonner and Brown were influenced by many artists, but clearly they were each other’s most important inspiration, even while also remaining independent in their work. When Wonner died in 2008, Brown declared: “Paul was the most central person in my life. He was also my best critic and I think I was his. When I did something that wasn’t very good and I wanted reassurance, I didn’t get it from Paul. He was always honest. I think that’s what I miss the most.” Brown lived four more years, creating art until the very end. I want to believe that, thanks to the excitement around this exhibition, they’ve finally become the heroes of their own stories. 14 TheG&LR Paul Wonner. Nude and Statue, 1969.
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