Jonathan Katz’ introduction to Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture
The National Portrait Gallery’s ‘Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture’ show October 2010 – February 13 2011. The exhibition was co-curated by Jonathan Katz, Chair of the Visual Studies doctoral program at SUNY-Buffalo, and David C. Ward, Historian at the National Portrait Gallery.
Hide/Seek: Introduction by co-curator Jonathan Katz
In his introduction to the Hide/Seek show Jonathan talks about knowledge and acknowledgement of homosexuality and queerness in American portraiture. He says, “There is nothing new on the wall, what is new is the way in which we are talking about it, because each of these works talks about aspects of sexual difference and that is new. That has never been addressed.”
The codes which governed the (homo)sexuality presented on the paintings are very different from what we are familiar with today. Looking back at these paintings we need to understand a different world where the straight and the queer was interwoven. In the 1910s and 1920s what we would call a same sex relationship consisted of a straight person and a queer person. Back then what mattered in the intimite moment was your own gender – if you behaved in accordance with your gender you were straight with out regard to with whom you made love. If instead you took on another gender role in a sexual act, then you were queer.
Controversy Surrounding The ‘Hide/Seek’ Show
There has been a lot of controversy regarding to the show as a video work by late gay artist David Wojnarowicz was removed from the show shortly after the opening last October. In the video below you can hear some visitors comments to the show and the queer art censorship. And below you find links to other posts about the show at this art blog.
The National Portrait Gallery’s Warren Perry asks visitors their thoughts on the Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture.
[The copyright of the videos above remain with the original holder and they are used here for the purpose of education, comparison and criticism only.]
About Jonathan Katz
Jonathan D. Katz is director of the doctoral program in visual studies at the State University of New York—Buffalo; an honorary research faculty member at the University of Manchester, UK; co-curator of the exhibition ―Hide/Seek‖; and co-author of its accompanying book. He was founding director of the Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies at Yale University and founding chair of the very first department of lesbian and gay studies in the United States, at City College of San Francisco. Here, he also co-founded the activist group Queer Nation, San Francisco, and founded both the Queer Caucus of the College Art Association and the Harvey Milk Institute.
Related Link
For more on the exhibit, visit the exhibit website at: Hide/Seek
‘American Queer Art Censorship: What’s Up’by Marlene Hoeber
‘Bad’ Art by David Wojnarowicz, post about the controversy surrounding the Hide/Seek show