Gay Icons Who Hunt for Antique Maps as Passions

The intersection of queer history and cartography offers a fascinating glimpse into how iconic figures have sought to understand their place in the world. For many of these individuals, the collection of antique maps is not merely a hobby but a profound intellectual pursuit that connects them to history and exploration. From the grand libraries of fashion designers to the travel satchels of legendary writers, these vintage charts serve as tangible records of human curiosity. This list explores the celebrated figures who have demonstrated a passion for the art of mapmaking and the preservation of geographical history.

Stephen Fry

This beloved British actor and writer is a renowned bibliophile with a massive personal library that rivals many public institutions. Stephen Fry has frequently expressed his deep love for the tactile and olfactory experience of old paper which naturally extends to antique atlases and maps. His intellectual curiosity about history and geography drives his collection and he focuses on pieces that tell a story about the evolution of human knowledge. Fry appreciates the errors in ancient maps as much as their accuracy and views them as snapshots of how civilization once perceived its place in the universe.

Karl Lagerfeld

The late fashion designer was famous for his voracious appetite for books and amassed a personal collection of over 300,000 volumes during his lifetime. Karl Lagerfeld curated a significant number of rare art books and historical atlases that served as direct inspiration for his runway designs. He viewed his collection as a research tool and often hunted for specific aesthetic periods or regional costumes depicted in old travelogues and maps. His passion for high culture meant that his map collection was likely selected with an eye for exquisite engraving and typographic beauty.

Bruce Chatwin

A celebrated travel writer and novelist, Bruce Chatwin was known for his nomadic lifestyle and his obsession with the concept of the ancestral map. His writing often circled the themes of wandering and the physical objects that guide travelers which made antique maps a central totem in his life. Chatwin hunted for the stories behind the maps and was fascinated by the blank spaces on colonial charts that represented the unknown. His appreciation for cartography was deeply philosophical as he viewed the map as a bridge between the physical landscape and the human imagination.

Yves Saint Laurent

The legendary French fashion designer was a dedicated collector of art and cultivated a world-class collection with his partner Pierre Bergé. Their shared passion included a deep love for Orientalist art and history which naturally encompassed maps of North Africa and the Middle East. Saint Laurent hunted for objects that inspired his designs particularly those reflecting the colors and landscapes of Marrakech where he owned the Majorelle Garden. His collection was a testament to his love for travel and the graphic arts of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Nate Berkus

As one of the most prominent interior designers in the world, Nate Berkus has made antique hunting a central part of his brand and lifestyle. He frequently sources vintage maps and globes to add a sense of history and worldly sophistication to the spaces he designs. Berkus hunts for pieces that have a patina of age and values the wear and tear on an old school map as a sign of its life and utility. His passion lies in the decorative power of cartography and he uses maps to anchor a room and provide a focal point of conversation.

Martyn Lawrence Bullard

This award-winning interior designer is known for his eclectic and global style and often incorporates antiques from his extensive travels. Martyn Lawrence Bullard is a regular at flea markets and auction houses where he hunts for large-scale vintage maps and architectural prints. He appreciates the graphic quality of black-and-white engravings and the sepia tones of aged maps and uses them to create drama in celebrity homes. His passion is for the treasure hunt and finding a forgotten roll of paper that turns out to be a stunning representation of a 17th-century city.

Gianni Versace

The late fashion icon Gianni Versace was known for his opulent taste and his fascination with the neoclassical history of the Mediterranean. His mansions were filled with art books and antique prints and objects that reflected the glory of ancient Rome and Greece. Versace hunted for inspiration in the past and his collection included iconography that traced the history of his beloved Italy. His passion was for the grand and the heroic and he saw in old maps a reflection of the empires and myths that fueled his fashion empire.

Rupert Everett

The British actor and writer has spent much of his later career exploring the world and documenting his travels in memoirs and documentaries. Rupert Everett possesses a deep interest in history and the Victorian era which involves a significant amount of research regarding period locations. He hunts for the atmosphere of the past and often uses the geography of cities like Paris and London to inform his storytelling. His passion for the spirit of place aligns with the collector’s love for the maps that define those spaces.

Susan Sontag

A towering intellectual figure and queer icon, Susan Sontag was known for her insatiable hunger for culture and her massive personal library. She viewed collecting books and prints as a way to consume the world and her interests spanned into art history and topography. Sontag hunted for knowledge in all its forms and her appreciation for the visual language of photography and prints extended to maps. Her passion was the accumulation of perspective and she used different ways of seeing the world to fuel her critical writing.

Andy Warhol

The Pop Art icon was a compulsive collector who filled his New York townhouse with antiques and cookie jars and fine art. Andy Warhol possessed collecting habits that were indiscriminate but astute and his time capsules often included travel brochures and maps. He hunted for the objects of everyday life that defined American culture and elevated the mass-produced map to the status of art. His passion was for preservation and keeping a physical record of where he had been and what the world looked like during his lifetime.

Tom Ford

The acclaimed fashion designer and film director is known for his exacting standards and his love for architectural precision. Tom Ford owns multiple properties around the world and fills them with carefully curated art and objects that reflect his polished aesthetic. He hunts for design books and vintage prints that exhibit clean lines and structural beauty which often includes architectural plans and city maps. His passion for geography is linked to control and order and he uses maps to understand the urban environments that inspire his work.

Ellen DeGeneres

This comedian and television host is arguably one of the most prolific real estate buyers and renovators in Hollywood. Ellen DeGeneres has a well-documented passion for design and frequently hunts for antique furniture and art to stage her numerous homes. Her design aesthetic favors rustic and industrial elements which pairs perfectly with vintage school maps and aged globes. She appreciates the warmth that a worn map brings to a living space and uses them to add character to modern rooms.

Paul Bowles

The composer and author of ‘The Sheltering Sky’ lived as an expatriate in Tangier for most of his life. Paul Bowles was obsessed with the geography of North Africa and often undertook difficult journeys into the Sahara Desert. He hunted for the reality of the landscape that appeared in his fiction and relied on local knowledge and French colonial maps to navigate the terrain. His passion for the desert was existential and the map served as his only tether to the civilized world he had left behind.

Christopher Isherwood

The Anglo-American novelist is best known for his semi-autobiographical stories set in Berlin during the rise of the Nazis. Christopher Isherwood was a lifelong traveler who moved between England and Germany and eventually settled in California. He hunted for the authentic experience of a city and his diaries reveal a keen awareness of urban geography and borders. His passion for mapping his own life through travel led him to collect the stories and locations that would define a generation of queer literature.

W.H. Auden

This major English poet was a close friend of Isherwood and accompanied him on many of his travels to Iceland and China. W.H. Auden had a scientific mind and a deep interest in geology and mining which influenced his fascination with topographical maps. He hunted for landscapes that reflected his internal emotional state and often used cartographic imagery in his poetry to describe the human condition. His passion for the physical structure of the earth made maps a source of constant intellectual stimulation.

Tennessee Williams

The playwright behind ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ was a restless soul who spent much of his life moving between New Orleans and Key West and Rome. Tennessee Williams was fascinated by the romantic atmosphere of these cities and the way their geography influenced the behavior of their inhabitants. He hunted for places where he could escape his demons and often used travel guides and maps to find his next sanctuary. His passion for location was central to his work and he treated the setting of his plays as a character in itself.

Cole Porter

The sophisticated American composer and songwriter lived a lavish life in Paris and Venice and New York. Cole Porter was a world traveler who embarked on luxury cruises and expeditions that required extensive planning and navigation. He hunted for the exotic allure of foreign lands and collected mementos that included travel posters and luggage labels and maps. His passion for the high life was inextricably linked to the freedom of travel and the maps that opened up the world to him.

James Baldwin

The legendary novelist and social critic spent significant periods of his life living in Paris and Istanbul to escape American racism. James Baldwin was a keen observer of his environment and used the geography of the cities he inhabited to frame his analysis of society. He hunted for a space where he could write freely and navigated these foreign capitals with the curiosity of a lifelong student. His passion for truth extended to his understanding of place and he mapped the social hierarchies of the world through his writing.

Michel Foucault

The French philosopher and historian was deeply concerned with the relationship between power and physical space. Michel Foucault studied the architecture of prisons and hospitals and asylums which required a detailed analysis of floor plans and maps. He hunted for the ways in which geography could be used to control human behavior and society. His passion for what he called heterotopias or other spaces made the map a crucial tool in his deconstruction of modern civilization.

Tell us which of these collections sparked your interest or share your own map hunting stories in the comments.