Jonathan Katz "furious" with Congress over Smithonsian exhibit removal
Jonathan D. Katz's career as an art historian can be framed by controversies over federal support for art that offends some people -- and specifically about art dealing with gay people.
He was working on his dissertation, "Opposition, Incorporated: On the Homosexualization of Post-War American Art," when in 1989 the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in Washington, called off an exhibit of sexually explicit work by Robert Mapplethorpe, amid calls from many conservative lawmakers to punish the National Endowment for the Arts for awarding a grant to the show. Since then, no major American art museum has attempted a show focused on gay sexuality -- until one that just opened, co-curated by Katz....
The new exhibit, "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture," is at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery. The exhibit's guide says that the work "considers such themes as the role of sexual difference in depicting modern America; how artists explored the fluidity of sexuality and gender; how major themes in modern art -- especially abstraction -- were influenced by social marginalization; and how art reflected society’s evolving and changing attitudes toward sexuality, desire, and romantic attachment." The periods covered range from the era when sexuality could only be hinted at to a more open society. The reviews have been strong, with The Washington Post calling it "one of the best thematic exhibitions in years," with "powerful art."
The new exhibit, "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture," is at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery. The exhibit's guide says that the work "considers such themes as the role of sexual difference in depicting modern America; how artists explored the fluidity of sexuality and gender; how major themes in modern art -- especially abstraction -- were influenced by social marginalization; and how art reflected society’s evolving and changing attitudes toward sexuality, desire, and romantic attachment." The periods covered range from the era when sexuality could only be hinted at to a more open society. The reviews have been strong, with The Washington Post calling it "one of the best thematic exhibitions in years," with "powerful art."
But last week, the Smithsonian removed one controversial work -- amid calls from some Republicans to have the show shut down, raising the question of how much has changed since 1989.
Katz is furious about the removal of the work, a video with metaphors about the experience of having AIDS. And he sees similarities between now and 1989. "Once again, they are going after the homos, and especially homos with AIDS," he said. "It was an old habit that was hard to let go of. It's raw politics in America." But Katz -- who is this year beginning a doctoral program in visual studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo -- sees progress as well. In an interview from London, where he was participating in a conference at the Tate Modern when the piece was removed, he discussed what he sees as the significance of "Hide/Seek" to art history and scholarship....
Read entire article at Inside Higher Ed
He was working on his dissertation, "Opposition, Incorporated: On the Homosexualization of Post-War American Art," when in 1989 the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in Washington, called off an exhibit of sexually explicit work by Robert Mapplethorpe, amid calls from many conservative lawmakers to punish the National Endowment for the Arts for awarding a grant to the show. Since then, no major American art museum has attempted a show focused on gay sexuality -- until one that just opened, co-curated by Katz....
The new exhibit, "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture," is at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery. The exhibit's guide says that the work "considers such themes as the role of sexual difference in depicting modern America; how artists explored the fluidity of sexuality and gender; how major themes in modern art -- especially abstraction -- were influenced by social marginalization; and how art reflected society’s evolving and changing attitudes toward sexuality, desire, and romantic attachment." The periods covered range from the era when sexuality could only be hinted at to a more open society. The reviews have been strong, with The Washington Post calling it "one of the best thematic exhibitions in years," with "powerful art."
The new exhibit, "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture," is at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery. The exhibit's guide says that the work "considers such themes as the role of sexual difference in depicting modern America; how artists explored the fluidity of sexuality and gender; how major themes in modern art -- especially abstraction -- were influenced by social marginalization; and how art reflected society’s evolving and changing attitudes toward sexuality, desire, and romantic attachment." The periods covered range from the era when sexuality could only be hinted at to a more open society. The reviews have been strong, with The Washington Post calling it "one of the best thematic exhibitions in years," with "powerful art."
But last week, the Smithsonian removed one controversial work -- amid calls from some Republicans to have the show shut down, raising the question of how much has changed since 1989.
Katz is furious about the removal of the work, a video with metaphors about the experience of having AIDS. And he sees similarities between now and 1989. "Once again, they are going after the homos, and especially homos with AIDS," he said. "It was an old habit that was hard to let go of. It's raw politics in America." But Katz -- who is this year beginning a doctoral program in visual studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo -- sees progress as well. In an interview from London, where he was participating in a conference at the Tate Modern when the piece was removed, he discussed what he sees as the significance of "Hide/Seek" to art history and scholarship....