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HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture

November 18, 2011–February 12, 2012
    Robert Mapplethorpe (American, 1946–1989). Self Portrait, 1975. Polaroid print. © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission
    George Wesley Bellows (American, 1882–1925). Riverfront No.1, 1915. Oil on canvas, 453⁄8 x 631⁄8 in. (115.3 × 160.3 cm). Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio: Howald Fund Purchase 1951.011
    Thomas Cowperthwaite Eakins (American, 1844–1916). Walt Whitman, 1891 (printed 1979). Platinum print, 41⁄16 x 413⁄16 in. (10.3 × 12.2 cm). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, NPG.79.65
    Florine Stettheimer (American, 1871–1944). Portrait of Marcel Duchamp, circa 1925. Oil on canvas, 241⁄4 x 241⁄2 in. (61.6 × 62.2 cm). Gift from the Estate of Ettie and Florine Stettheimer, Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts. Photography by David Stansbury
    Keith Haring (American, 1958–1990). Unfinished Painting, 1989. Acrylic on canvas, 393⁄8 x 393⁄8 in. (100.0 × 100.0 cm). Courtesy of Katia Perlstein, Brussels, Belgium ©Keith Haring Foundation
    AA Bronson (Canadian, b. 1946). Felix, June 5, 1994, 1994 (printed 1999). Lacquer on vinyl, 84 × 168 in. (213.4 × 426.7 cm). National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Purchased 2001. © AA Bronson, courtesy Esther Schipper Gallery, Berlin
    Berenice Abbott (American, 1898–1991). Janet Flanner, 1927. Gelatin silver print, 91⁄2 x 73⁄8 in. (24.1 × 18.7 cm). Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. © Berenice Abbott/Commerce Graphics, New York
    Charles Demuth (American, 1883–1935). Dancing Sailors, 1917. Watercolor over graphite on paper, 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm). Courtesy Demuth Museum, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
    Félix González-Torres (American, 1957–1996). “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991. Candies individually wrapped in multicolored cellophane, endless supply. Overall dimensions vary with installation, ideal weight: 175 lb. The Art Institute of Chicago; promised gift of Donna and Howard Stone. Courtesy of Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York © The Félix González-Torres Foundation
    Alice Neel (American, 1900–1984). Frank O’Hara, 1960. Oil on canvas, 333⁄4 x 16 × 1 in. (85.7 × 40.6 × 2.5 cm). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, NPG.96.128; gift of Hartley S. Neel. © Estate of Alice Neel

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    The first major museum exhibition to focus on themes of gender and sexuality in modern American portraiture, HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture brings together more than one hundred works in a wide range of media, including paintings, photographs, works on paper, film, and installation art. The exhibition charts the underdocumented role that sexual identity has played in the making of modern art, and highlights the contributions of gay and lesbian artists to American art. Beginning in the late nineteenth century with Thomas Eakins’ Realist paintings, HIDE/SEEK traces the often coded narrative of sexual desire in art produced throughout the early modern period and up to the present. The exhibition features pieces by canonical figures in American art—including George Bellows, Marsden Hartley, Alice Neel, and Berenice Abbott—along with works that openly assert gay and lesbian subjects in modern and contemporary art, by artists such as Jess Collins and Tee Corinne.

    In addition to revealing connections between sexual identity and formal developments in modern art, HIDE/SEEK presents artists’ responses to the Stonewall Riots of 1969, the AIDS epidemic, and postmodern themes of identity, highlighted with major pieces by artists such as AA Bronson, Félix González-Torres, and Annie Leibovitz. More than simply documenting a prominent subculture often relegated to the margins of American art, HIDE/SEEK offers a unique survey of more than a century of American portraiture and leads the way towards a more nuanced and inclusive understanding of modern art in America.

    Some pieces in this exhibition are directed toward adult audiences. Parents and teachers are advised to preview the exhibition.

    HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture was originally organized by the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, and has been reorganized by the Brooklyn Museum and the Tacoma Art Museum. The original presentation was co-curated by David C. Ward, National Portrait Gallery, and Jonathan D. Katz, director of the doctoral program in visual studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo. The Brooklyn Museum presentation is coordinated by Tricia Laughlin Bloom, Project Curator.

    The Brooklyn presentation is sponsored by

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    Other generous support has been provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Barbara and Richard Moore, The Calamus Foundation, the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., Donald A. Capoccia and Tommie Pegues, the Steven A. and Alexandra M. Cohen Foundation, Inc., Leslie and David Puth, Allison Grover and Susie Scher, the David Schwartz Foundation, Mario J. Palumbo, Jr., Tom Healy and Fred Hochberg, Hermes Mallea and Carey Maloney, and other generous donors.

    Educational programs are supported by the Keith Haring Foundation.

    Print media sponsor

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    Organizing department

    Special Exhibition

    Media

    HIDE/SEEK co-curator Jonathan Katz in conversation with The Normal Heart playwright Larry Kramer.

    ​Visit the National Portrait Gallery’s website for HIDE/SEEK.

    View Site
    ​Visit the National Portrait Gallery’s website for HIDE/SEEK.

    ​HIDE/SEEK’s project curator, Tricia Laughlin Bloom, facilitates a discussion about the exhibition. Read the recap on Storify and join the conversation on Facebook.

    View Site
    ​HIDE/SEEK’s project curator, Tricia Laughlin Bloom, facilitates a discussion about the exhibition. Read the recap on Storify and join the conversation on Facebook.

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