Closet to Quarantine: Queer Art Then and Now connects past and present artistic expressions of queer experience. The exhibition spans the arc of queer history, from taboo, to revolutionary, to accepted and celebrated, featuring works by contemporary LGBTQ+ artists alongside their historical antecedents.

Childs Gallery, established in 1937, and the longest continually operating fine art gallery on Newbury Street, has been wholly or partially gay-owned since 1969. The gallery has long offered works by LGBTQ+ artists, including Richmond Barthé, Paul Cadmus, and Ben Norris, to name just a few. Alongside its other offerings, Childs Gallery has actively cultivated a focus on queer-interest art within its collection.

Closet to Quarantine: Queer Art Then and Now is inspired by the quarantine-era Instagram account of the gallery’s current owner, Richard Baiano (@artdealerboston). During the Covid-19 quarantine, Baiano posted historical and contemporary art by LGBTQ+ artists under the hashtag #queerartthenandnow as a way to develop a digital community, while also highlighting queer artists throughout history. Discovering artists digitally, through social media, has been an exciting deviation from the gallery’s usual approach. With its low barriers to entry, social media allows artists and audiences to connect more easily, giving access to those who may not otherwise have it, particularly historically marginalized groups like the LGBTQ+ community.

The current exhibition is an extension of this project, bringing together examples of historical queer art with work by contemporary LGBTQ+ artists, many of whom were discovered via social media and the #queerartthenandnow hashtag. The title Closet to Quarantine refers generally to the arc of queer history, but also to the shared themes of isolation and visibility across this history. The forced confinement of the Covid-19 quarantine has been particularly difficult for some members of the LGBTQ+ community, a group which has long fought for visibility and acceptance. In many ways, the physical and social isolation of this period echoes the isolation of historical queer experience (albeit without the same stigma). Throughout the pandemic, social media has served as an important antidote to this isolation, acting as a vital outlet for connection and creative expression.

Many of the themes expressed by the contemporary artists in this exhibition mirror those found in historical queer art. Queer themes in art can be broadly understood as a progression from taboo, to revolutionary, to acceptance and celebration. For the greater part of the 20th century, homosexuality was still considered taboo. As a result, queer art has been shaped by both the need to conceal references to queer identity, and the desire for increased visibility and acceptance.

This tension between concealment and visibility has long been present in queer art, often by necessity. Photographer George Platt Lynes, famous for his commercial work in fashion magazines, secretly produced a substantial body of nude and homoerotic photography throughout his life. Lynes considered his photographs of male nudes to be his finest work, yet this private body of work was never shown during his lifetime as it was considered taboo at the time. In contrast, contemporary artist Felipe Chavez uses his art practice to explore his own sexuality in a very public way. In his conceptual self-portraits, Chavez uses his own body to explore the male form and its relationship with sexuality and space as a gay man.

One of the most influential queer artists of the 20th century is Paul Cadmus, whose Renaissance-influenced paintings are considered a foundation of queer modernism. Cadmus was one of the first artists to wield an explicit male-on-male gaze in contemporary art and many of his paintings contain coded references to homosexuality and queer experience. In this exhibition, the artist’s highly finished drawing Male Nude NM32, 1967 depicts his longtime partner and muse Jon Anderson with sensual detail. Contemporary artists John MacConnell and Anthony Moore continue to work in this same tradition, depicting their male subjects as suggestively erotic objects of desire. Yet without any overt references to sexuality, it is left to the viewer to make the connection.

In the wake of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, the gay liberation movement began to promote increased visibility, encouraging people to “come out” as LGBTQ+, rather than assimilate to societal norms. Many artists likewise became emboldened to make and exhibit art about their sexual identity. These revolutionary works often depict graphic sexual content as an expression of pride - they represent a complete rejection of the taboo of queerness. Examples include the hyper-sexualized homoerotic illustrations of Tom of Finland and Mike Kuchar. Following in this unabashedly homoerotic tradition are contemporary artists Eric Lotzer and Emily Lombardo. Lotzer makes a very conscious attempt to redefine and reclaim the vulgar, exploring the uncomfortable yet attractive aspects of our primal sexual behavior. Lombardo’s work explores queer sex and relationships, often through reinterpretations of historic material, including Goya’s Los Caprichos and Marcantontio Raimondi’s I Modi series. She contributes At Sea to this exhibition – an intimate print depicting two women draped upon each other in a drifting boat.

With greater visibility and acceptance, many contemporary LGBTQ+ artists embrace and celebrate queer identity and sexuality in their work. Andrew Sedgwick Guth’s brightly colored embroidered paintings depict male-identifying figures in settings of intimacy. His goal with these works is to “depict the subjects in ‘pretty’ and ‘soft’ environments. Safe spaces for them to exist and to be beautiful in their own right.” In this same vein, Stuart Sandford, a co-curator of the #queerartthenandnow hashtag, celebrates the powerful and enduring classical ideal of male beauty in his multidisciplinary practice. He explains, “I always wanted to celebrate my sexuality and put the male nude body front and centre in my work. I grew up with negative depictions of LGBTQ life within popular media and thought it was important to depict the opposite - so portraying male intimacy became a natural focus.”

Childs Gallery is a generalist gallery with selected specialties - this exhibition is an ongoing endeavor to create an additional specialty of queer art within the gallery. The list of artists included here barely scratches the surface of the diverse and talented creators in the LGBTQ+ community. As we continue to connect, collaborate, and learn from each other, we intend to expand #queerartthenandnow into new spaces, as there is still so much to learn and so much work to be done. We also acknowledge that there are all sorts of queerness, and that this show comes primarily from the perspective of a cisgender gay man and thus does not presume to represent everyone within the LGBTQ+ community. However, we do see this as a step towards facilitating a community of queer artists and audiences under the historic Childs Gallery umbrella.

A reception for Closet to Quarantine: Queer Art Then and Now will take place on Saturday, September 18th, 4pm - 7pm.

Artists in the exhibition include: 

Hannah Barrett

Richmond Barthé

Robert Bliss

Paul Cadmus

Rick Castro

Felipe Chavez

Opal DeRuvo

Rubén Esparza

Jared French

Andrew Sedgwick Guth

Don Joint

Mike Kuchar

Emily Lombardo

Eric Lotzer

George Platt Lynes

John MacConnell

Anthony Moore

Ben Norris

Stuart Sandford

Margaret Rose Vendryes

Andy Warhol

Sara Zielinski

Photographer George Platt Lynes, famous for his commercial work in fashion magazines, secretly produced a substantial body of nude and homoerotic photography throughout his life. Though never shown during his lifetime, Lynes considered his male nudes to be his finest work; the models were often friends and acquaintances - gay artists, dancers, and writers from Lynes’ social circle. Much of Lynes’ most intimate work was acquired by the Kinsey Institute after his death in 1955 and would only later become celebrated and exhibited as groundbreaking photography, influencing later generations of artists to openly explore male sexuality.

George Platt Lynes: Face/Flesh/Form surveys the artist’s work, from his more commercial endeavors to his most intimate portraits of friends, lovers, and models posed in quietly striking moments. Included in the exhibition are several photographs of Chuck Howard, a favorite model of artists Paul Cadmus and Jared French and muse to Lynes, who captured both the erotic and everyday moments in their relationship.

George Platt Lynes: Face/Flesh/Form is on view in the Childs Gallery Print Department July 1 through August 28, 2021.

What Stands Before Us: Art in Quarantine is a group exhibition of art created during the Covid-19 pandemic. The exhibition encompasses the wide range of subjects that artists have personally grappled with during quarantine, including social isolation, the global health crisis, racial injustice, and climate change. This unprecedented time has brought new focus and greater urgency to the many challenges we face.

The exhibition takes its title from a line of Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem, The Hill We Climb. This poem captured a powerful moment in a tumultuous year, delivering a message of hope and perseverance to a nation reeling from a global pandemic, political tension, and racial injustice. Gorman implores us to: “lift our gazes, not to what stands between us, but what stands before us”; to confront together the many threats to our future.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the events of the past year have led many artists to likewise shift or intensify their gaze. This year of isolation and reflection, of political tension and social upheaval, has brought into greater focus the many issues that currently stand before us, whether personal, political, societal, or global.

Featuring work by sixteen contemporary artists, What Stands Before Us documents a turbulent year through paintings, prints, photographs, and works on paper, each piece telling the story of its creator’s experiences. Robert Freeman, best known for his celebratory and joyful images of Black life, found he could not ignore our country’s current racial reckoning after the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black men and women at the hands of police. His diptych Struggle, viscerally depicting two lynchings, is part of his newest series Our Struggle, which directly addresses the artist’s indignation at the violent racial divide within our country. “As a visual artist releasing my anger, outrage and sadness has resulted in these canvases. This is a creative eruption of deep and vast emotional frustration.”

Karen Lee Sobol’s Germ of the Month watercolors reference medical journals, recalled from childhood, which featured magnified photos of microscopic organisms on the back cover. The images terrified her as a child, and took on haunting new meaning in the spring of 2020 as news continued of the Covid-19 virus’s rapid spread. Sobol’s images are bright and beautifully abstract, belying the deadly nature of the organisms they portray.

During the lockdown in Italy, Jorge R. Pombo used his solitude to start a series long on his mind: mixed media variations on John Singer Sargent’s The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit. Pombo wanted the darkness prominent in Sargent’s painting to feature as the central protagonist in his works. As his city of Reggio Emilia experienced the stillness of isolation, Pombo painted the collective “nothingness” of social distancing as an unpredictable and unsettling black void marring the familiarity of Sargent’s work.

In addition to those mentioned, the exhibition will include works by David Avery, Resa Blatman, Thomas Darsney, Paul Endres Jr., William Evertson, Andrew Fish, Sean Flood, Jillian Freyer, Joan Hall, John Thompson, Margaret Rose Vendryes, Anthony Peyton Young, and Sara Zielinski. Though each artist tackles the events and hardships of the past year through the lens of their individual experiences, they also urge us to consider the issues that stand before us as a collective whole – a potentially mighty force with which to confront the problems that threaten our future.

POP/Modernism explores the trajectory of art from Modernism through Post-Modernism. Modernism encompasses a period in history that began with Impressionism and spanned various movements -  including Cubism, Fauvism, Constructivism - and culminating with Abstract Expressionism. With an obsession for the fruits of capitalism and popular culture, Pop Art became a bridge to Post-Modernism which at its core is identified by conceptual art.

As we've been clearing out the gallery at 169 Newbury Street and moving into our new space at 168, we've reacquainted ourselves with many treasures temporarily forgotten or not seen in some time. Forgotten Favorites, an online exhibition, is a curated group of artworks we've fallen in love with all over again, from Old Master prints to American Impressionist paintings to mid-century sculpture. Enjoy revisiting some old favorites with fresh eyes, or meeting a new piece for the first time!

John Thompson: An Artist Collects explores the fascinating connection between an artist’s practice and the artwork they choose to collect. This unique exhibition showcases the private art collection of artist John Thompson alongside examples of his own work. An accomplished painter and printmaker, Thompson is also a lifelong collector. His eclectic art collection, assembled over several decades, comprises more than 1,000 works, with exceptional examples of paintings and prints from Old Master through Contemporary. An Artist Collects features Contemporary selections from Thompson’s collection, including works by Patrick Casey, Jim Dine, Walton Ford, Robert Freeman, Nicola Lopez, Ana Maria Pacheco, and John Walker, exhibited with his own creative output.

Thompson’s multilayered prints and paintings evoke the fleeting beauty of small moments in nature: the play of light on leafy branches, the rustle of wind through grass, the ripple of raindrops across a pond. Thompson uses multiple printmaking techniques to orchestrate his expressive prints, building and layering overlapping elements. Each monoprint is a unique work of art, a harmonious symphony of pattern, texture, color, and light. For Thompson, a love of materials and willingness to experiment are paramount.

As a collector, Thompson is particularly drawn to proofs and early states, works that provide insight into the artist’s process or technique. He appreciates the painstaking effort involved in the creation of an artwork and admires the audacity and necessity of experimentation. Thompson’s collecting habits both inform and reflect the qualities he values most in his own work: technique, process, virtuosity, experimentation, and expressiveness

Originally scheduled for exhibition in the fall of 2020, An Artist Collects was postponed due to Covid-19. Thompson notes that the ongoing pandemic has affected both his creative and collecting processes. More time in his studio has allowed him to retreat into art - both his own and that of others. Thompson’s Waltham studio doubles as storage for much of his extensive collection, and, surrounded by both his art and centuries of works by others, he is afforded a hyper focus on both what he wants to create and what he wants to collect. His artistic output has recently concentrated on woodcuts; though no stranger to the medium, Thompson felt drawn to their more assertive nature throughout the past year. He also feels collecting has become more important to him, and the extra time spent with his vast holdings of hundreds of years of paintings and prints has refined his approach to acquisitions. Thompson continues to seek out both older, historical works and those of established and emerging contemporary artists, with an eye for artistic ingenuity.

John Thompson: An Artist Collects is the first exhibition to open at Childs Gallery’s new 168 Newbury Street location. Showcasing art through the introspective lens of the artistic process itself, An Artist Collects is a fitting inaugural exhibition, and we look forward to welcoming guests. As part of our Covid-19 precautions, we are currently open to the public 11am to 4pm, Tuesday through Sunday, and by appointment.

On view in Childs Gallery’s new Print Department at 168 Newbury Street, Henry Moore: Prints presents an impressive array of etchings and lithographs by the famed British artist. Best remembered as a sculptor of figurative semi-abstraction, Moore also produced numerous prints during his career, often of his wildly popular reclining and seated figures. Henry Moore: Prints features several examples of these ubiquitous forms, including the monumental Stone Reclining Figure (also a rare artist proof), as well as animals, interiors, and mothers with children – another frequent motif after the birth of Moore’s daughter in 1946. The exhibition also demonstrates the artist’s progression from early work principally concerned with mass, to later figures, pierced through with openings to examine space.

The exhibition is on view in our upstairs Print Department through April 25, 2021.

Goya’s seminal series, Los Caprichos, is a visual condemnation of the follies and foolishness of the 18^th century Spanish society in which he lived. Comprising 80 etchings, Los Caprichos wittily criticizes wide-ranging dangers including superstition, ignorance, and irrationality. Though inspired by his own society, Goya’s prints expose humanity’s universal failings, revealing the tendency of all cultural movements to give way to fascism and inequity. Our new online exhibition Goya: Prints from Los Caprichos presents works from this visionary series, including several etchings from the coveted first edition of 1799.

The exhibition is timed to coincide with the upcoming display of contemporary artist Emily Lombardo’s The Caprichos at Monserrat College of Art (January 25 through May 15, 2021). Lombardo’s prints are in direct conversation and homage to Goya’s Los Caprichos, exploring the foibles and follies of our modern era, while also highlighting the timelessness of the original work.