implicit assumptions about mascu-
His contemporary colleague An-
line norms are imbedded in terms
ders
such as “masterpiece” and “mas-
naked women bathing in the sea
ter artist.” The traditional insistence
and lakes. Both artists treated their
on aesthetic quality thereby be-
subjects with an erotic eye, but
comes a structure that privileges
their work has been judged diffe-
and sustains normative narratives
rently in art history. While Jansson’s
and images.
male nudes were regarded as
This is apparent in the art-historical
curiosities and excluded from the
reception of the work of Swedish artist
Eugène
Jansson
(1862-
1915), who painted naked men in outdoor bath houses and indoor gymnasiums in the early 1900s.
Zorn
(1860-1920)
painted
Swedish canon, Zorn’s female nudes were considered masterpieces of Swedish turn-of the-twentiethcentury national romanticism. This comparison illustrates how a heterosexual privilege has biased aesthetic judgments and, as in this case study, has led to the exclusion of homoerotic motifs from Swedish art history. Therefore, I argue, we need to reconsider what assumptions about heterosexual norms are embedded in a term like “aesthetic quality.” The museum space is very effective as a producer of social norms. Objects that enter the museum change their meaning with their change of context. In any case, the queer eye will always be inspired to look
Eugène Jansson, Athletes, 1912. Photo: Erik Cornelius/Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.
elsewhere, inside and outside of the museum, to find queer presen[74]