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Chuck Arnett

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Chuck Arnett
Born(1928-02-15)February 15, 1928
Bogalusa, Louisiana
DiedMarch 2, 1988(1988-03-02) (aged 60)
San Francisco, California
CitizenshipAmerican
Occupation(s)Artist, Dancer

Charles "Chuck" Arnett (February 15, 1928, in Bogalusa, Louisiana – March 2, 1988, in San Francisco, California) was an American artist and dancer.[1][2] His best-known work is the Tool Box mural (1962).[3]

Biography[edit]

Arnett grew up in Bogalusa and New Orleans, the latter of which he would later always claim as his hometown. He danced in the local ballet successfully for several seasons before moving in 1951 to New York City to better pursue the career he wanted to make for himself in the world of professional dance. Arriving with letters of introduction and names of people to contact from his time as a dancer in New Orleans, he quickly settled into the life of those in Manhattan who referred to themselves as "theatrical gypsies." In the next few years, his time was divided between the best dance classes he could get enrolled into, practice, auditioning for parts, and rehearsing and then performing on the stage. He then performed for some time with the National Ballet of Canada;[4] the time he spent with the National Ballet was the only full-time, permanent employment he would ever hold in his life.

In the early 1960s, Arnett assisted Dom Orejudos in creating murals for the Gold Coast bar in Chicago[5] (for a time, Arnett was involved with Orejudo's partner Chuck Renslow[6]). Soon after, in late 1962, Arnett moved to San Francisco.[5] There he worked at the Tool Box, a gay bar at 339 4th St in the South of Market neighborhood.[7] The Tool Box was one of the first bars in the city[8] catering specifically to the leather community and gay motorcycle clubs.[9][3][5]

Beginning in 1962 Arnett painted a series of life-size murals inside the Tool Box depicting a wide cross-section of gay society.[9] The bar and the murals were made famous by the June 1964 Paul Welch Life article entitled "Homosexuality In America,"[9] the first time a national publication reported on gay issues. The article opened with a two-page spread of one of Arnett's murals.[10][3] The article described San Francisco as "The Gay Capital of America" and inspired many gay leathermen to move there.[7]

Arnett created art for other San Francisco gay bars and businesses such as the Ambush,[11] the Balcony,[12] the Red Star Saloon[13] and a psychedelic black light mural for The Stud.[14][15] Over the course of his career he depicted a wide variety of subject matter in his art, ranging from astrology[16] to bar scenes[17] to fisting.[16][13] His art was featured in the magazine Drummer[18] and exhibited at Fey-Way Studios.[19]

Samuel Steward tattooed Arnett in the 1960s.[20]

One busy night Rudolf Nureyev came into the Tool Box with several men obviously from the opera house where he was performing. He was seated at the bar and with many people watching, removed the coat he had on, revealing a leather jacket, to applause. Arnett brought his drink, a cognac, in the best glass the house could provide, and when he finished it and left, Arnett took the glass.

Arnett died on March 2, 1988, from AIDS.[1]

Cultural impact & legacy[edit]

The San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley, consists of four works of art along Ringold Alley honoring leather culture,[21][22] including a black granite stone etched with a narrative by Gayle Rubin and a reproduction of Arnett's Tool Box mural.[23][22] Another of the works of art is bronze bootprints along the curb which honor 28 people (including Arnett) who were an important part of the leather communities of San Francisco.[22][21]

Some of Arnett's papers and artwork is housed at the Leather Archives & Museum[24][25] and GLBT Historical Society,[16] including one of the Tool Box murals.[9]

In 2006, historian Jack Fritscher wrote:[26]

"If there is a gay Mount Rushmore of four great pioneer pop artists, the faces would be Chuck Arnett, Etienne, A. Jay, and Tom of Finland."

In 2012, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts exhibited a recreation of Arnett's Tool Box mural.[27]

Further reading[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Winn, Steven (2006-06-09). "AIDS AT 25 / The remembering continues". SFGate. Retrieved 2016-12-28.
  2. ^ "Arnett, Chuck". GLBT Historical Society and BAR On-Line Obituary Project. 1988-03-10. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  3. ^ a b c Rubin, Gayle (1998). "Folsom Street: The Miracle Mile". FoundSF. Retrieved 2016-12-28.
  4. ^ Nott, Michael (2024). Thom Gunn: A Cool Queer Life. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9780374721374.
  5. ^ a b c Evans Frantz, David. "Dress Codes: Chuck Arnett & Sheree Rose". ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries. Archived from the original on 2017-11-26. Retrieved 2017-02-02.
  6. ^ Baim, Tracy (2017-06-29). "Legendary Chicago businessman, activist Chuck Renslow dies". Windy City Times. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  7. ^ a b "Leather History Timeline-Leather Archives". Leatherarchives.org. Archived from the original on 2012-04-21. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
  8. ^ Brook, J., Carlsson, C., and Peters, N. J. (1998). Reclaiming San Francisco: history, politics, culture. San Francisco: City Lights
  9. ^ a b c d "The Artistry of Leather and Desire: Archives Acquire Tool Box Mural". GLBT Historical Society. 2022-02-25. Retrieved 2024-05-27.
  10. ^ "yax-192 Life in 1964, part 1". Yawningbread.org. 1964-07-27. Archived from the original on 2005-01-20. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
  11. ^ Stewart, Jim (2013-03-31). "BARchive: Art at the Ambush". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  12. ^ Provenzano, Jim (2021-05-19). "50 years in 50 Weeks 1977; Drawn to It". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  13. ^ a b "Red Star Saloon S.F. (UC1STO551521)". USC Libraries. Retrieved 2024-07-07 – via ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives.
  14. ^ Sussman, Matt (2008-02-12). "Lautrec in Leather: Chuck Arnett and the San Francisco Scene". San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966–2014. Volume 42 Number 20. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  15. ^ "From Thom Gunn: A Cool Queer Life, "The Stud"". Academy of American Poets. 2024-06-25. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  16. ^ a b c "Chuck Arnett collection". Online Archive of California. Retrieved 2024-05-27.
  17. ^ Rodriguez, Joe Fitzgerald (2015-06-24). "New exhibit tells SF gay, lesbian, leather history through art". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  18. ^ "THE ART OF DRUMMER – 19th March – LA". Tom of Finland Foundation. Retrieved 2024-06-01.
  19. ^ Heigl, Alex (2020-02-09). "Oscars 2020: The true story of Robert Opel, the 1974 Academy Awards streaker". New York Post. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  20. ^ "Never-before-released Toklas oral history highlights exhibit of Bancroft Library's LGBT collections". Berkeley News. 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  21. ^ a b Cindy on July 17, 2017 (2017-07-17). "Ringold Alley's Leather Memoir – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World". Artandarchitecture-sf.com. Retrieved 2019-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ a b c Paull, Laura (21 June 2018). "Honoring gay leather culture with art installation in SoMa alleyway – J". J. Jweekly.com. Retrieved 2018-06-23.
  23. ^ Cindy on July 17, 2017 (2017-07-17). "Ringold Alley's Leather Memoir – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World". Artandarchitecture-sf.com. Retrieved 2019-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ Keehnen, Owen (2008-05-21). "The Leather Archives and Museum: To protect and serve". Windy City Times. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
  25. ^ "Leather Archives & Museum". X (formerly Twitter). 2020-05-13. Retrieved 2024-05-27. Chuck Arnett (1928-1988) was a dancer and artist, painter of The Tool Box mural made famous in Life magazine. Detail from one of Arnett's sketchbooks in the @leatherarchives.
  26. ^ Fritscher, Jack; Hemry, Mark (2007). Gay San Francisco: eyewitness Drummer: a memoir of the sex, art, salon, pop culture war, and gay history of Drummer magazine, the titanic 1970s to 1999 (Collectors' limited ed., illustrated ed.). San Francisco: Palm Drive Pub. ISBN 978-1-890834-38-8. OCLC 268739395.
  27. ^ Hamlin, Jesse (2012-10-17). "Nayland Blake: Freedom key to Tool Box". SFGate. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
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