The noun ‘lesbian’ was first recorded in the 1890 Billing’s Medical Dictionary. Greek poet Sappho’s association with erotic love between women dates to at least 1825 in writing in English, sparking the use of words like ‘sapphist’ and ‘sapphism’. I use the term ‘lesbian artists’ as an umbrella term in this article, as a description of women artists who loved women and chose follow their desires and get involved in romantic relationships with women rather than following the (heteronormative) European norm: to get married. The term ‘lesbian artist’ meaning a ‘lesbian feminist artist’ was coined by the feminist movement of the 1970s.
