Chuck Arnett

{{Infobox person

| image = Chuck Arnett.jpg

| birth_date = {{birth date|1928|02|15}}

| birth_place = Bogalusa, Louisiana

| death_date = {{death date and age|1988|03|02|1928|02|15}}

| death_place = San Francisco, California

| citizenship = American

| occupation = Artist, Dancer

}}

Charles "Chuck" Arnett (February 15, 1928{{snd}}March 2, 1988) was an American artist and dancer who was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana, and died in San Francisco.{{Cite news |last=Winn |first=Steven |date=2006-06-09 |title=AIDS AT 25 / The remembering continues. |url=http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/AIDS-AT-25-The-remembering-continues-2533281.php |access-date=2016-12-28 |newspaper=SFGate}}{{Cite web |date=1988-03-10 |title=Arnett, Chuck |url=http://obit.glbthistory.org/olo/display.jsp?name=19880310_Arnett_Chuck |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=GLBT Historical Society and BAR On-Line Obituary Project}} His best-known work is the Tool Box mural (1962).{{cite web|url=http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Folsom_Street:_The_Miracle_Mile|title=Folsom Street: The Miracle Mile|last=Rubin|first=Gayle|author-link=Gayle Rubin|date=1998|website=FoundSF|publisher=|access-date=2016-12-28}}

Biography

Arnett grew up in Bogalusa and New Orleans, the latter of which he would later always claim as his hometown. He danced in the local ballet successfully for several seasons before moving in 1951 to New York City to better pursue the career he wanted to make for himself in the world of professional dance. Arriving with letters of introduction and names of people to contact from his time as a dancer in New Orleans, he quickly settled into the life of those in Manhattan who referred to themselves as "theatrical gypsies." In the next few years, his time was divided between the best dance classes he could get enrolled into, practice, auditioning for parts, and rehearsing and then performing on the stage. He then performed for some time with the National Ballet of Canada;{{Cite book |last=Nott |first=Michael |title=Thom Gunn: A Cool Queer Life |date=2024 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=9780374721374}} the time he spent with the National Ballet was the only full-time, permanent employment he would ever hold in his life.

In the early 1960s, Arnett assisted Dom Orejudos in creating murals for the Gold Coast bar in Chicago (for a time, Arnett was involved with Orejudo's partner Chuck Renslow{{Cite web |last=Baim |first=Tracy |date=2017-06-29 |title=Legendary Chicago businessman, activist Chuck Renslow dies |url=http://windycitytimes.com/2017/06/29/legendary-chicago-businessman-activist-chuck-renslow-dies/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=Windy City Times |language=en-US}}). Soon after, in late 1962, Arnett moved to San Francisco. There he worked at the Tool Box, a gay bar at 339 4th St in the South of Market neighborhood.{{cite web |date= |title=Leather History Timeline-Leather Archives |url=http://www.leatherarchives.org/exhibits/deblase/timeline1.htm#1964 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421175041/http://www.leatherarchives.org/exhibits/deblase/timeline1.htm#1964 |archivedate=2012-04-21 |accessdate=2012-05-18 |publisher=Leatherarchives.org}} The Tool Box was one of the first bars in the cityBrook, J., Carlsson, C., and Peters, N. J. (1998). Reclaiming San Francisco: history, politics, culture. San Francisco: City Lights catering specifically to the leather community and gay motorcycle clubs.{{cite web |last=Evans Frantz |first=David |date= |title=Dress Codes: Chuck Arnett & Sheree Rose |url=http://one.usc.edu/dress-codes/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171126025958/http://one.usc.edu/dress-codes/ |archive-date=2017-11-26 |access-date=2017-02-02 |website=ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries |publisher= |language=en-US}}

Beginning in 1962 Arnett painted a series of life-size murals inside the Tool Box depicting a wide cross-section of gay society. The bar and the murals were made famous by the June 1964 Paul Welch Life article entitled "Homosexuality In America," the first time a national publication reported on gay issues. The article opened with a two-page spread of one of Arnett's murals.{{cite web |url=http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2000/yax-192.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050120222835/http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2000/yax-192.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2005-01-20 |title=yax-192 Life in 1964, part 1 |publisher=Yawningbread.org |date=1964-07-27 |accessdate=2012-05-18 }} The article described San Francisco as "The Gay Capital of America" and inspired many gay leathermen to move there.

Arnett created art for other San Francisco gay bars and businesses such as the Ambush,{{Cite web |last=Stewart |first=Jim |date=2013-03-31 |title=BARchive: Art at the Ambush |url=https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=bartab&sc=nightlife&id=143109 |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=Bay Area Reporter}} the Balcony,{{Cite web |last=Provenzano |first=Jim |date=2021-05-19 |title=50 years in 50 Weeks 1977; Drawn to It |url=https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=bartab&sc=barchive&id=305022 |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=Bay Area Reporter}} the Red Star Saloon{{Cite web |title=Red Star Saloon S.F. (UC1STO551521) |url=https://doi.org/10.25549/one-c4-46788 |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=USC Libraries |date=2021 |doi=10.25549/one-c4-46788 |via=ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives}} and a psychedelic black light mural for The Stud.{{Cite web |last=Sussman |first=Matt |date=2008-02-12 |title=Lautrec in Leather: Chuck Arnett and the San Francisco Scene |url=https://sfbgarchive.48hills.org/sfbgarchive/2008/02/12/lautrec-leather-chuck-arnett-and-san-francisco-scene/ |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966–2014 |series=Volume 42 Number 20 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024-06-25 |title=From Thom Gunn: A Cool Queer Life, "The Stud" |url=https://poets.org/text/thom-gunn-cool-queer-life-stud |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=Academy of American Poets |language=en}} Over the course of his career he depicted a wide variety of subject matter in his art, ranging from astrology to bar scenes{{Cite web |last=Rodriguez |first=Joe Fitzgerald |date=2015-06-24 |title=New exhibit tells SF gay, lesbian, leather history through art |url=https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/new-exhibit-tells-sf-gay-lesbian-leather-history-through-art/article_ad0fab8e-f125-5ede-ba57-9488e19536ea.html |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=San Francisco Examiner |language=en}} to fisting. His art was featured in the magazine Drummer{{Cite web |title=THE ART OF DRUMMER – 19th March – LA |url=https://www.tomoffinland.org/the-art-of-drummer-19th-march-la/ |access-date=2024-06-01 |website=Tom of Finland Foundation}} and exhibited at Fey-Way Studios.{{Cite web |last=Heigl |first=Alex |date=2020-02-09 |title=Oscars 2020: The true story of Robert Opel, the 1974 Academy Awards streaker |url=https://nypost.com/2020/02/09/the-life-and-tragic-death-of-infamous-oscars-streaker-robert-opel/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=New York Post |language=en-US}}

Samuel Steward tattooed Arnett in the 1960s.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2012-03-29 |title=Never-before-released Toklas oral history highlights exhibit of Bancroft Library's LGBT collections |url=https://news.berkeley.edu/2012/03/29/never-before-released-toklas-oral-history-highlights-exhibit-of-bancroft-librarys-lgbt-collections/ |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=Berkeley News |language=en}}

One busy night Rudolf Nureyev came into the Tool Box with several men obviously from the opera house where he was performing. He was seated at the bar and with many people watching, removed the coat he had on, revealing a leather jacket, to applause. Arnett brought his drink, a cognac, in the best glass the house could provide, and when he finished it and left, Arnett took the glass.

Arnett died on March 2, 1988, from AIDS.

Cultural impact & legacy

The San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley, consists of four works of art along Ringold Alley honoring leather culture,{{cite web|author=Cindy on July 17, 2017 |url=http://www.artandarchitecture-sf.com/ringold-alleys-leather-memoir.html |title=Ringold Alley's Leather Memoir – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World |publisher=Artandarchitecture-sf.com |date=2017-07-17 |accessdate=2019-12-30}}{{cite news|last=Paull |first=Laura |url=https://www.jweekly.com/2018/06/21/honoring-gay-leather-culture-with-art-installation-in-soma-alleyway/ |title=Honoring gay leather culture with art installation in SoMa alleyway – J |newspaper=J |publisher=Jweekly.com |date= 21 June 2018|accessdate=2018-06-23}} including a black granite stone etched with a narrative by Gayle Rubin and a reproduction of Arnett's Tool Box mural.{{cite web|author=Cindy on July 17, 2017 |url=https://www.artandarchitecture-sf.com/ringold-alleys-leather-memoir.html |title=Ringold Alley's Leather Memoir – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World |publisher=Artandarchitecture-sf.com |date=2017-07-17 |accessdate=2019-12-30}} Another of the works of art is bronze bootprints along the curb which honor 28 people (including Arnett) who were an important part of the leather communities of San Francisco.

Some of Arnett's papers and artwork is housed at the Leather Archives & Museum{{Cite web |last=Keehnen |first=Owen |date=2008-05-21 |title=The Leather Archives and Museum: To protect and serve |url=http://windycitytimes.com/2008/05/21/the-leather-archives-and-museum-to-protect-and-serve/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=Windy City Times |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2020-05-13 |title=Leather Archives & Museum |url=https://x.com/leatherarchives/status/1260590676582039557?lang=en |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=X (formerly Twitter) |quote=Chuck Arnett (1928-1988) was a dancer and artist, painter of The Tool Box mural made famous in Life magazine. Detail from one of Arnett's sketchbooks in the @leatherarchives.}} and GLBT Historical Society,{{Cite web |title=Chuck Arnett collection |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c82z1cb6/entire_text/ |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=Online Archive of California}} including one of the Tool Box murals.{{Cite web |date=2022-02-25 |title=The Artistry of Leather and Desire: Archives Acquire Tool Box Mural |url=https://www.glbthistory.org/newsletter-blog-2022/03-feature |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=GLBT Historical Society |language=en-US}}

In 2006, historian Jack Fritscher wrote:{{Cite book |last1=Fritscher |first1=Jack |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/268739395 |title=Gay San Francisco: eyewitness Drummer: a memoir of the sex, art, salon, pop culture war, and gay history of Drummer magazine, the titanic 1970s to 1999 |last2=Hemry |first2=Mark |date=2007 |publisher=Palm Drive Pub |isbn=978-1-890834-38-8 |edition=Collectors' limited ed., illustrated |location=San Francisco |oclc=268739395}}

"If there is a gay Mount Rushmore of four great pioneer pop artists, the faces would be Chuck Arnett, Etienne, A. Jay, and Tom of Finland."

In 2012, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts exhibited a recreation of Arnett's Tool Box mural.{{Cite web |last=Hamlin |first=Jesse |date=2012-10-17 |title=Nayland Blake: Freedom key to Tool Box |url=https://www.sfgate.com/art/article/nayland-blake-freedom-key-to-tool-box-3957203.php |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=SFGate}}