About

A compendium of queer people in the 19th and 20th centuries, drawn and researched by Michele Rosenthal

In 2014, I began creating portraits of some of my favorite historical queer people, writing a sentence or two about each and sharing them on Tumblr. At first I only had a handful of people in mind, but the names quickly multiplied as the biographies grew longer and more in depth.

Two years later, I took my first 60 illustrations and created queerportraits.com, a permanent home for the project and an entry point to exploring LGBTQ history through the people who created it. New portraits and biographies will be added on a regular basis, so check back often, or follow along on Tumblr or Instagram.

Why I use the word "queer." // Why I don't include ancient history.

The website will always be free to access, but if you’d like to donate a bit of money to support this endeavor and help pay for web hosting, that would be awfully nice of you!

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Complaints? You can send me a message on Tumblr, or email me at michele@queerportraits.com.