Philip Kennicott Slams the Art World's Homophobia

In the Washington Post, Philip Kennicott blasts a favorite Thebes topic: the entrenched homophobia of museums, galleries, and critics, with much discussion of Christopher Reed's new book, Art and Homosexuality: A History of Ideas. Kennicott's essay is must reading:

"Even the arts world, often seen as a haven for diversity, is being forced to confront a long record of using cultural power to demean, control and hide the contributions of gay artists...

"While both [Hide/Seek] and Reed’s book make a positive case for the often intimately entwined histories of homosexuality and art (especially in the 20th century), they also document a litany of shameful events and grievances, many of them perpetrated by institutions and people who may be forced to confront past bigotry and make amends...

"Even museums that are not actively in the business of anti-gay bigotry are often prone to hiding the rich history of same-sex desire... Rarely, if ever, is any explanation given for the role that figures such as Ganymede (a boy kidnapped by Zeus), Saint Sebastian (depicted as a handsome youth pierced by arrows) and Orpheus (who in some versions of the legend turns away from women and to the love of boys after his ultimate loss of Eurydice) play in the iconography of same-sex eroticism.

"In some cases it is museum policy not to explain anything about the art (another suicidal habit of the modern American museum). But in other cases, the information is simply missing. As cultural change continues... institutional silence on gay themes may no longer be seen as an innocuous, 'family friendly' strategy. 'Family' is now understood to include gay parents, married gay couples and people with gay children, and the absence of basic information about the role of same-sex desire in art history has become an overt sin of omission."

As Kennicott explains, "Whole movements and eras, from the aestheticists of the late 19th century to the abstract expressionists of the mid-20th century, simply don’t have coherence without reference to same-sex desire."

While unmasking the antigay biogtry of straight powerbrokers -- "the downtown Artists’ Club, which served prominent ab-ex painters, also encoded a 'no homosexuals' clause in its constitution" -- Kennicott also points out that gay artists Gilbert & George refused to allow their work to be included in a gay show in 1982 or in Reed's book now.

More to come about Reed's intriguing book, just out from Oxford University Press.

Big thanks to a favorite reader for the tip.

Comments

[clt]

It was great to read your commentary on Kennicott. And very encouraging
to read about New York's gay marriage law as a tipping point. Perfect
to have it happen as we celebrate our other freedoms.

[Sue]

Great article... one day.. articles like this will shock our grandchildren... when being Gay or Trans etc will not be the defining point of a human being. We will just be... people..

[Sue]

Great article... one day.. articles like this will shock our grandchildren... when being Gay or Trans etc will not be the defining point of a human being. We will just be... people..