Natalie Barney

Natalie Barney once wrote: “My queerness is not a vice, is not deliberate, and harms no one.” In 1900, she published Quelques Portraits-Sonnets de Femmes, a collection of love poems to women, which was suitably scandalous, if not great poetry. Soon after, her father died and left her a large sum of money and for 60+ years Barney was an influential figure in lesbian and feminist circles, celebrating women's "friendship" (amitié), artistically, intellectually and erotically. Life as opera.

Below is the inside courtyard at 20, rue Jacob in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, where she held her influential literary salon from 1909. Tucked away here is a garden and even a Greek temple, the Temple of Friendship (lower photo), which served as an architectural expression of her references to Sappho in her writings. The temple is still there apparently, sandwiched between buildings, but none of this is visible or accessible from the street. Barney died in 1972 at the age of 96.

These photos were taken in 1910.