Last month, the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation received accreditation from the State of New York as an official museum, making the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art (MoGLA). This made MoGLA the first and only museum of gay and lesbian art in the world. Now, another amazing fete: with over $10 million in donations, it has received the largest gift towards LGBT art in US history.
Combined with existing donations including $1.5 million from the estate of artist Marion Pinto, Charles W. Leslie made a donation of $8.8 million in memory of his late partner Fredric D. (Fritz) Lohman. The pair organized their first exhibition of gay art in 1969, the same year as the Stonewall Riots.
“Charles Leslie is one of the few individuals in New York with both the capacity, and the political will, to rectify the silence around gay/lesbian art and artists in New York’s major museums, by setting up our own gay and lesbian art museum,” responded Jonathan D. Katz, President of the Leslie Lohman Museum’s Board of Directors. “We’re excited to be presenting exhibitions that finally acknowledge important artists like Paul Thek fully in the round, and this major gift will enable us to continue to exhibit high quality shows for a long time to come.”
Charles Leslie
Please visit their website, http://leslielohman.org/, for more information and to view the museum’s current and upcoming exhibition schedule.
GaySocialites.com gives a huge thumbs up to Mr. Leslie and the Leslie Lohman Museum for thriving so vibrantly in a world that seems too devoid of the arts.
