Anna Dobbins LGBTS Fellow Profile

The Yale LGBT Studies Research Fellowship provided crucial support to allow for a period of focused study at the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library. The Beinecke houses the personal archives of the Argentine Italian Surrealist Leonor Fini which includes an extensive collection of letters, illustrated texts, and prints. During my time at Yale, I completed the research and primary writing phase of my dissertation chapter on the Surrealist artist. This research is part of my larger dissertation project “Women Surrealists and the Marquis de Sade: Feminism, Sexuality, and Transgression in the Post-War Era,” which examines the queer and feminist sex positive ways women artists were influenced by the writing of the Marquis de Sade in post-war France. Fini’s oeuvre is critical in understanding how women in the 1960s worked against the heteronormative conception of woman and sexuality and presented a radical new way of depicting the body. As my project looks specifically at her illustrated work (all of which are available at the Beinecke), my time in the archives allowed for close object study and helped to highlight elements and motifs that are fundamental to Fini’s practice.

I am grateful to the LGBTS and WGSS departments for their generous support during my time at Yale. My conversations with Professors Evren Savci, Joseph Fischel, Roderick Ferguson, and Margaret Homans helped provide valuable insights for my dissertation project. I am also grateful for the generous feedback I received during the WGSS Colloquium.