A 20th Century Artist Who Paved The Way for The 21st Century Lesbian

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception



"Edouard Manet's 'Olympia' scandalized nearly everyone when it was first exhibited at the 1865 Paris Salon, its nude subject confronting the viewer with an unflinching gaze and brazen sexuality. Francisco Goya's Nude Maja, created over half of a century earlier, was similarly shocking, both because of the model's visible pubic hair and palpable lack of shame. A third equally heretical and pivotal nude painting, however, is often erased from the conversation: American artist Romaine Brooks' 1910 'White Azaleas.'" (Read more here)