Barbara Jean
One segment of the transgender world which remains under-researched are men who are fascinated by dressing in women’s clothing. The Barbara Jean collection gives an illustrated window into that community. Barbara Jean (1924-2014) was involved in the Southern California Transvestite scene in the late 1950's and early 1960's and was a leading creator of artworks depicting imagery of interest to this community. Barbara Jean drew for early cross-dressing publications such as Tales From a Pink Mirror, Adventures in Petticoats, Turnabout, Fated for Femininity, and for Virginia Prince’s Transvestia and Chevalier publications. Barbara Jean described her work as:
...elaborately detailed descriptions of clothing worn by the participants in “her” fantasies which increased my fascination with the “cultural taboo” of cross dressing. I did not draw to produce “art”! I drew for the strange pleasure I felt in “getting carried away” in trying to portray femininity in “off beat” drawings designed to appeal to the fantasies and imagination of the cross dresser. Heterosexual cross dressers love, admire and are attracted to females and anything of a feminine nature with a secret obsession bordering on envy. My sketches do not portray any males unless they are in the process of “transformation.”
This is a comprehensive collection of all of Barbara Jean’s art, photos, notes and correspondence. It will enable researchers to better understand the development of this genre of art, the works of fiction illustrated by the drawings, and the community of people who enjoyed them.
