May 2011 Issue No. 410
Pittsburgh’s majestic movie palaces remembered —page 15
FREE
What about ‘NO’ doesn’t the court understand?—page 7
A Link to Pittsburgh’s Pride past Pride 2010 set a record. Pride 2011 promises to be even bigger and better. Check out the list of Pride events on page 3.
Who’s spotted There? —page 35
Butterflies, botanical drawing and nude youth Gay artist’s secret life takes flight in major exhibit by Matthew Kolas
These vamps really suck —page 11
“There are two people in the story,” says my guide. “One holds an official role.” She points to a portrait of Andrey Avinoff, painted by his sister, in which he dons his University of Pittsburgh robes. “This is the guy I’m interested in,” she tells me, pointing to the much smaller Self-Portrait with Butterfly Eye, drawn by Avinoff with graphite on an envelope scrap. A butterfly is substituted for his left eye. “This is how he saw himself,” she notes. Even my private tour of Andrey Avinoff: In Pursuit of Beauty with the Carnegie Art Museum’s curator Louise Lippincott will not be enough to answer all of my questions about the gay man who served as director of the museum from 1926 until 1945. Avinoff was equally renowned for his accomplishments in entomology as he was for his
work as a commercial artist. Da Vinci meets Warhol, and so much more. Andrey Avinoff was born into a wealthy Russian military family under the rule of Alexander III on February 14, 1884. His fascination with butterflies began as a child, when he began not only painting them but also collecting them. He went on the receive a traditional Russian education, completing a law degree in 1905. From his matriculation at Moscow University, Avinoff began a career that embodied his dual nature: his official persona as a government bureaucrat and his passion for butterflies as a side profession. In 1908, he used an inheritance to finance his first butterfly-collecting expedition to Russian Turkestan and Pamir. He later traveled to Kashmir and Tibet in 1912. Through his own travels and 44 other exContinued on page 16
CMYK
John Colombo
Hit us, Britney, one more time—page 20