Posted on 14th Dec 2011 @ 8:10 AM

A first for the Gay Community, the gallery of the Leslie- Lohman Foundation is now  officially an accredited Museum approved by the Board of Regents of New York State.  I'm proud to add this article and provide this announcement on the Museumshoppers.com Blog!

LGBT Artists have had a dedicated home on Wooster Street to show their work ever since art collectors J. Frederic "Fritz" Lohman and Charles W. Leslie founded the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation in 1990.

That space is now moving up in the art world, becoming the city's latest museum.  The newly accredited Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art will celebrate its transformation on Tuesday with an exhibition of 45 works pulled from its 6,000-piece permanent collection.

"Creating a Queer Museum" includes work by Robert Mapplethorpe, Keith Haring, Catherine Opie, Andy Warhol and the documentary maker Joan E. Biren, who goes by the initials JEB.

An untitled 1895 print by Wilhelm von Gloeden is among the works in the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art's permanent collection. (Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art)

Museum spokesman Jerry Kajpust said being designated a museum by the state board of regents allows Leslie-Lohman to offer more.

"This establishes us as more of a credible institution in the arts community and with [art] lending institutions," he said.