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Explore Gilded Age New York through the lens of Alice Austen, who captured the social rituals of New York’s leisured class and the  bustling streets of the modern city. Celebrated as a queer artist, she  was this and much more.

Alice Austen (1866-1952) lived at  Clear Comfort, her grandparent’s Victorian cottage on Staten Island,  which is now a National Historic Landmark. As a teenager, she devoted  herself to photography, recording what she called “the larky life” of  tennis matches, yacht races, and lavish parties.

When she was  25 and expected to marry, Austen used her camera to satirize gender  norms by posing with her friends in their undergarments and in men’s clothes, “smoking” cigarettes and feigning drunkenness. As she later  remarked, she was “too good to get married.” Austen embraced the  rebellious spirit of the “New Woman,” a moniker given to those who defied expectations by pursuing athletics, higher education or careers. She had romantic affairs with women, and at 31, she met Gertrude Tate,  who became her life partner. Briefly, Austen considered becoming a  professional photographer. She illustrated Bicycling for Ladies, a  guide written by her friend Violet Ward, and she explored the  working-class neighborhoods of Manhattan to produce a portfolio, “Street  Types of New York.” Rejecting the taint of commerce, however, she  remained within the confines of elite society with Tate by her side.

Although  interest in Austen has accelerated since 2017, when the Alice Austen  House was designated a national site of LGBTQ history, the only prior  book on Austen was published in 1976. Copiously illustrated, Too Good to Get Married  fills the need for a fresh and deeply researched look at this skillful  and witty photographer. Through analysis of Austen’s photographs,  Yochelson illuminates the history of American photography and the  history of sexuality.

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