ABSTRACT
UN T I L R E C E N T LY, M U S E U M S A N D galleries have offered little to those who wish to explore the history of sex and sexuality, including same-sex relationships. 1 In particular, people belonging to LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) communities have found that their own lifestyles and experiences have not been refl ected in the interpretative frameworks of temporary exhibitions or permanent displays. 2 A brief review of the track record of museums in the United Kingdom reveals that it is only in the past ten years or so that a number have begun to present more accurate, representative, and inclusive displays addressing themes related to sex and sexuality. 3 A few social history museums have recently begun active efforts to acquire objects and histories that relate to LGBTQ history. 4
Exhibitions of works by contemporary artists that explore or refl ect themes related to sex, sexuality, and LGBTQ culture have also become more common in recent years. For example, Nan Goldin’s photographs, including those that document alternative lifestyles and relationships, have been exhibited widely around the world. 5 Sometimes the display of work that has featured nudity or a sexual theme has provoked controversy. The exhibition of work by Robert Mapplethorpe, whose art includes explicit photographic images of men as well as sadomasochistic imagery, generated widespread debate in the American media when the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, cancelled his exhibition, The Perfect Moment, in June 1989. 6 An exhibition at the New Art Gallery in Walsall in 2004, discussed in Michael Petry’s chapter in this book, was the fi rst survey of its kind to focus entirely on the work of male same-sex partners and included work by artists such as Derek Jarman, David Hockney, and Andy Warhol. 7 The question of whether an artist’s sexuality should always be acknowledged in the interpretative frameworks of an exhibition remains contested; a related question, whether an individual’s sexuality should be revealed when that person’s home becomes a museum, is discussed in the chapter by Joshua Adair in this book. Nevertheless, it is clear that biographical or contextual details that would often be included for heterosexual artists have, until recently, been omitted when the artist has identifi ed as LGBTQ.
