Selected items from the Kinsey Institute Special Collections have been exhibited to the public for more than 25 years at a variety of galleries and museums around the world, including the Whitney Museum of American Art (NYC), Musee d'Orsay (Paris), Museo Nacional de Arte (Mexico), Museum of Sex (NYC), the Chicago History Museum, the Wellcome Collection (London), the Barbican Art Gallery (London), the Guggenheim (NYC), and the Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh).
Past exhibitions
Online galleries of select exhibitions are also available.
Please note: Online galleries may contain sexually explicit material that may be offensive to some people and not suitable for persons under the age of 18. By viewing these galleries, you certify that you are at least 18 years of age or older.
View online exhibitsThe Wunderkammer: Curiosities in Indiana University Collections
October 23–November 18, 2015 | Grunwald Gallery at Indiana University
The Wunderkammer highlighted the practice of private and institutional collecting of art, artifacts, specimens, and objects through the special collections on Indiana University’s campus not typically seen by the average visitor. The exhibit was displayed as a cabinet of curiosities similar to the traditional collections amassed by individuals in the sixteenth century and included a collection of animal penis bones and a 1955 Relax-A-Cizor device from the Kinsey Institute Collections.
Bring Your Own Body: transgender between archives and aesthetics
October 13–November 14, 2015 | The Cooper Union (New York City)
December 10, 2015–February 13, 2016 | Glass Curtain Gallery (Chicago)
Bring Your Own Body presented the work of transgender artists and archives, from the institutional and sexological to the personal and liminal. Taking its title from an unpublished manuscript by intersex pioneer Lynn Harris, the exhibit historicized the sexological and cultural imaginary of transgender through a curatorial exploration of the Kinsey Archives and the burgeoning movements for transgender expression from the turn of the 20th century. Guest curator: Jeanne Vaccaro, Ph.D.
The Institute of Sexology
November 20, 2014–September 20, 2015 | Wellcome Collection (London)
The Institute of Sexology exhibition featured more than 50 items from the Kinsey Institute art, artifacts, and archival collections showcasing the pioneers of the study of sex.
Undercover: Selections from The Kinsey Institute
March 20–April 17, 2015 | Wabash College
Undercover presented a selection of photographs, prints, paintings, and sculptures from the Kinsey Institute that explored the stories we tell one another about sex and stories that seek to obfuscate, glorify, mystify, boast, or jest about sex.
Hold That Pose: Erotic Imagery in 19th Century Photography
January 23–July 31, 2015 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Once photography was invented in the 1830s, it quickly became a popular medium for depictions of the nude figure, as well as erotic imagery. Hold That Pose featured daguerreotypes, tintypes, albumen and gelatin silver prints, stereocards, and other examples of photographic processes that were used in the 19th century by professional photographers to produce and distribute erotic material.
Secret Impressions: The Mass Production of Erotica Prior to the Camera>br /> January 23–July 31, 2015 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Secret Impressions presented a selection of lithographs, engravings, etchings and woodblock prints from the mid-19th century and earlier.These artworks from France, England, Italy, Germany, Holland, and Japan illustrate the means by which pornographic and erotic images were mass produced before the invention of the camera. Wealthy collectors could commission paintings, but others could purchase prints at a lower cost.
Undress Me: A Peek at 19th and 20th Century Undergarments
September 19–December 23, 2014 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Undress Me presented a selection of vintage photographs of women in lingerie from the Kinsey Institute art collection paired with corsets, slips, brassieres, and other articles of clothing on loan from the Sage Collection at Indiana University. Ranging in date from the late 19th century through the 1920s, the clothing on display illustrated the dramatic shift in desired body shape from the hourglass, to the S-curve, to the straight boyish lines of the Roaring Twenties.
The Taste of Seduction
September 19–December 23, 2014 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
The Taste of Seduction examined the rich tradition of linking the enjoyment of food and drink with sex and arousal, through works of art and cultural artifacts in the Kinsey Institute collections. The exhibit included approximately fifty artworks, artifacts, and print materials from The Kinsey Institute’s research collections that relate to the consumption of food and drink and its association with sexual desire, romantic love and seduction.
Robert Mapplethorpe: Photographs from The Kinsey Institute
October 10–November 22, 2014 | Grunwald Gallery, Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts
Beyond Mapplethorpe: Selections from The Kinsey Institute featured prints by photographers who either influenced Robert Mapplethorpe's work or were his contemporaries in the 1970s and 1980s. The show contained more than twenty photographs by George Platt Lynes, Herb Ritts, Len Prince, Arthur Tress, Tom Bianchi, and Bettina Rheims. Although these images were not as overtly sexual as some of Mapplethorpe's photographs, they revealed the same interest in exploring and expanding the artistic possibilities of the human figure.
Creative Minds
April 11–September 12, 2014 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Creative Minds featured work produced by artists whose primary professions were as sex researchers, physicians, or scientists. Works incldued drawings, glass art, photographs, sculpture, and video by Robert Latou Dickinson, Rachel Liebert, John Money, Jeffrey Rothenberg, Andreas Schneider, Jill Bolte Taylor, David Teplica, Leonore Tiefer, Michael P. Wenzler, and Martin Weinberg.
Artistic Types: Text in Visual Art
April 11–September 12, 2014 | Grunwald Gallery, Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts
Artistic Types: Text in Visual Art offered a selection of artworks in which words or the alphabet play a significant role in the composition. The exhibition featured a wide range of media, from vintage photographs to contemporary pieces.
The Right to Read: Censorship and the Books of Grove Press
February 3–28, 2014 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
The Right to Read was included in "The Burroughs Century," a 5-day festival that examined and celebrated the legacy of William S. Burroughs, one of the principal figures of the Beat Generation and a ground-breaking American writer and artist. The show examined the pivotal role that Grove Press, which published Burroughs' Naked Lunch and many other controversial books, played in the censorship battles of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The Kinsey Institute Library houses hundreds of books and serials issued by Grove Press, an independent publishing house in New York. In addition to the work of Burroughs, Grove Press was the first to legally publish Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence, as well as the works of Henry Miller, Jean Genet, and anonymous Victorian authors of erotic literature.
Flora
January 24–April 4, 2014 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Flora presented a selection of photographs, prints, paintings, sculptures, and books from the permanent collection that featured plant or landscape imagery.
Beauty and the Beast: The Erotic Art of Ian Hornak
January 24–April 4, 2014 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Beauty and the Beast: The Erotic Art of Ian Hornak showcased a major gift of drawings and paintings from the estate of 20th century American artist Ian Hornak. Hornak (1944–2002) lived and worked in New York, where he was one of the founding artists of the Photorealist and the Hyperrealist movements. He is now recognized as one of the preeminent representational artists of his generation. Although best known for his landscapes, Hornak’s early work from the late 1960s often focused on the nude figure, at times combining human and animal anatomy.
The Man Naked: Dimensions of Masculinity from 1800
2014 | Museo Nacional de Arte (Mexico City)
La Vida Sexual
September 6, 2013–January 15, 2014 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
La Vida Sexual presented artwork from Latin America or produced by artists originally from Latin American countries. Included in this show were drawings and watercolors by Cuban-born artist Emilio Sanchez, works by Argentinian artists Leonor Fini and Leandro Natale, and a selection of Spanish language publications from the Kinsey Institute Library.
This exhibition was offered in celebration of the 40th anniversary of La Casa, the Latino Cultural Center at Indiana University.
Naked Spaces: Architecture in Art from the Kinsey Institute Collection
January 18–April 5, 2013 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Naked Spaces investigated the ways artists manipulate architectural representation to communicate ideas about sex, gender, and the erotic.
The exhibition featured works by Herbert Ascherman, Bruce Barnes, Franz von Bayros, David Bekker, Tom Bianchi, Edouard Chimot, Ralph Nicholas Chubb, Vincent Cianni, Dominque Vivant Denon, Michael Fingesten, Edie Fake, D. Keith Furon, Wilhelm von Gloeden, Suzuki Harunobu, Walter Sigmund Hempel, Clifford Raven Ingram, Toby Kaufmann, Max Kislinger, Rita Koehler, Clarence John Laughlin, Lehnert & Landrock, Richard Lux, Michael Miksche, Marcantonio Raimondi, Anne Roecklein, Félicien Rops, Emilio Sanchez, Ronald Searle, Carl Streller, Arthur Tress, Spencer Tunick, and Dirk Vellert.
The guest curator was Susan Johnson-Roehr, Ph.D., an architectural historian at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
2013
- Touchy Subjects: Art, Sex and Humor: Selections from the Kinsey Institute | Indianapolis Art Center
A Place Aside: Artists and Their Partners
September 28–December 20, 2012 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
A Place Aside explored the relatonships between photographers and their loved ones. The photographs not only documented couple’s' lives together. They also revealed the trust and respect that each partner has for the other.
Organized by guest curator Garrett Hansen, this exhibit presented images from nine contemporary photographers: Jeff Moerchen, Alexis Culver, Audim Culver, Gustavo Gomes, Yuhki Touyama, Fabien Seguin, Julie Barnofski, Garrett Hansen, and Tanya Bezreh.
Gender Expressions
September 28–December 20, 2012 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Gender Expressions used contemporary photographs, fine art prints, and other materials to illustrate the various ways people express their gender identity or challenge societal expectations about gender roles. A selection of magazines, books, newspaper clippings, and other materials also looked at transgender history in the United States.
Represented artists included Mariette Pathy Allen, Jess Anthony, Herbert Ascherman, Mia Beach, Heather Christoffer, Jess T. Dugan, Leonor Fini, Wilhelm von Gloeden, Danielle C. Head, Hans van der Kamp, Vivienne Maricevic, Ohm Phanphiroj, Len Prince, Carson Rader, Sarah Taavola, Cara Lee Wade, Martin Weinberg, Jessica Anthony, Dennis Chamberlin, Michael Grecco, Linda Hesh, and Herb Ritts.
Ephemeral Ink: Selections of Tattoo Art from The Kinsey Institute Collections
July 9–September 21, 2012 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Ephemeral Ink featured depictions of tattoos and tattooing that provide a glimpse into the evolution of tattooing style and technique over the course of a hundred years.
Materials included flash art, images of tattoos by notable artists Les Skuse and Bert Grimm, artwork by Utagawa Kunisada, Alberto Martini, Kirk Richard Smith, and Samuel Steward, and a selection of text materials and ephemera from the Kinsey Institute library. There were also works by anonymous and known fine art photographers, including Herbert Ascherman, Jeff Crisman, Jess T. Dugan, Michael Grecco, Chas Ray Krider, June Yong Lee, George Platt Lynes, Dianora Niccolini, Len Prince, Rahul A. Saha, Michele Serchuk, Tom Stio, and Michael Wenzler.
The exhibition was curated by Amy Tims, a historian and librarian who recently graduated from the Indiana University School of Library and Information Science. A version of this show was on exhibit at Marian University, February 20–March 23, 2012.
Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze
April 13–June 29, 2012 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Man as Object examined the visibility of men and masculinity from female/feminist/transgender perspectives.
The show was organized by Karen Gutfreund, Priscilla Otani, and Brenda Oelbaum for the Women’s Caucus for Art with Tanya Augsburg, Assistant Professor, San Francisco State University, as Juror. Prior to coming to Bloomington, it was shown at the SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco.
Love and War
January 20–April 6, 2012 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Love and War featured visual material from the American Civil War to the 21st century. Many of the items represented popular culture in America during World War II as Alfred Kinsey and his colleagues traveled the country collecting research material and data for their study of human sexual behavior.
The show featured cartoons, propaganda leaflets, postcards, photographs, magazines, pin-up calendars, drawings, prints, and a variety of novelty objects, as well as a selection of contemporary images by Garrie Maguire, Len Prince, Herbert Ascherman, and other photographers whose work addresses war in the modern age.
See also: When Sex and War Meet (produced by Indiana Public Media).
2012
- Ephemeral Ink | Fisher Hall, Marian University
- Out in Chicago | Chicago History Museum, Chicago
- Obscene Diary | Museum of Sex, New York City
The Photographs of Len Prince
October 21–December 21, 2011 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Len Prince is a New York-based photographer whose work spans more than four decades. The Photographs of Len Prince represented a selection of prints from a major gift of more than 225 Len Prince photographs from his long-time patron William Zewadski.
Storytellers
April 8–July 29 and August 8–September 2, 2011 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Storytellers provided a rare opportunity for visitors to view a wide range of material pulled from The Kinsey Institute’s extensive library collection. The selection included pulp fiction paperbacks from the 1960s, illustrated erotic novels, underground comic books, Japanese pillow books, and other narrative texts. Story-driven artworks were also included. They ranged from vintage photographs, prints, watercolors, and drawings by anonymous and known artists to a series of Judy Chicago lithographs and other contemporary pieces.
As We See Them: Exotic and Erotic Images from Modern Alternative Process Photographers
January 21–April 1, 2011 | | Kinsey Institute Gallery
As We See Them presented the work of eleven artists who used some of the earliest photographic processes to create contemporary images dealing with sexuality and the human figure. Featured works included cyanotypes by Patrick Alt and Charles West, platinum-palladium prints by Herbert Ascherman Jr. and Jeannette Palsa, gum bichromate prints by Laurent Benaïm, photogravures by Constantine Gedal, tintypes by Cynthia Greig, ambrotypes by Ed Ross, daguerreotypes by Charlie Schreiner, and aluminum-types by Mark Sink and Kristen Hatgi.
Guest curators: Herbert Ascherman Jr. and Jeannette Palsa
Private Eyes:
January 22–April 2, 2010 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Private Eyes: Amateur Art from The Kinsey Institute Collection explored the unique characteristics of homemade erotic artifacts. These one-of-a-kind items include drawings, paintings, carved figures, handmade cards, scrapbooks, and altered coins from The Kinsey Institute’s permanent collection of art.
Guest curators: Betsy Stirratt, Director, School of Fine Arts Gallery, and Blaise Cronin, Dean and Rudy Professor of Information Science, IU School of Library and Information Science
2010
- RUBBERS: The Life, History & Struggle of the Condom | Museum of Sex, New York City
- Skin & Bones: Tattoos in the Life of the American Sailor | Independance Seaport Museum, Philadelphia
The Shape of Us
September 25–December 24, 2009 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
The Shape of Us explored diversity and the human body through a display of artistic representations from various cultures and time periods.
Eros in Asia: Erotic Art from Iran to Japan
February 20–July 2, 2009 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Eros in Asia was the first Kinsey Institute exhibition to highlight its extensive collection of erotic artwork from across Asian.
It featured paintings, prints, illustrated books, sculptures, and art objects from China, India, Iran, Japan, Turkey, Mongolia, and Myanmar (formerly Burma).
Pre-Revolutionary Queer: Gay Art and Culture Before Stonewall
October 24, 2008–February 14, 2009 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
brought together a diverse collection of artwork, photographs, newsletters, magazines, and other materials documenting the existence of a vibrant but largely underground gay culture prior to the start of the modern gay rights movement in the late 1960s.
Sex and Presidential Politics
September 26, 2008 - January 23, 2009 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Sex and Presidential Politics offered a glimpse of presidential politics viewed by adult and underground media sources. The exhibit featured magazines, tabloids, newspapers and newsletters from the later half of the 20th century that revealed a different perspective on the elections.
Sex and Presidential Politics was part of the Indiana University Libraries’ “Politics and Presidents: A Month-Long Celebration of Archives and Special Collections.”
Women of Pleasure
January 18–April 4, 2008 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Women of Pleasure examined the depiction of women in 18th and 19th century European erotic art and literature via paintings, engravings, etchings, photographs, artifacts, books, and other materials from the Kinsey Institute's collections.
iGuy (HeLovesMeHeLovesMeNot.com)
January 8-15, 2008 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
iGuy (HeLovesMeHeLovesMeNot.com) was a short-term exhibition by artist Robb Stone that featured a collection of photo and text-based collages exploring explore the erotic world of online social networking. All artworks were made specifically for the show and included actual images from websites such as Manhunt and Craigslist, where gay men can post profiles and look for potential partners.
Queer Projections
January 22–April 6, 2007 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Queer Projections celebrated the contributions of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals to the film industry, both in front of and behind the camera. The exhibition also explores the representation of GLBT characters in Hollywood and independent films. Assembled by guest curator Dr. Brian J. Woodman, the exhibit features a variety of film posters, photographs, movie stills, and other cinema-related ephemera.
Sex Objects
August 1–December 22, 2006 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Sex Objects exhibited sculpture and other three-dimensional items from the Kinsey Institute collection.
Sex in the Cinema
January 17–April 7, 2006 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Sex in the Cinema used posters, press kits, photographs, and other materials to examine the use of sex as a marketing tool by Hollywood studios and independent film companies. Selected posters represented a number of genres, from the exploitation pictures of the 1930s through the first mainstream X-rated films of the 1970s.
Passionate Creatures: Animal Imagery in Art
August 22–December 23, 2005 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Passionate Creatures featured paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, photographs, and artifacts depicting real and mythological creatures. Exhibited objects and artworks spanned more than two thousand years of cultural history.
Sex Ed
October 20, 2005 - February 11, 2006 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Sex Ed looked at the dissemination of information about sex, reproduction, and health over the past several centuries. Materials included film posters, fetal development models, novelty condoms, birth control devices from previous eras including an 18th century condom, educational films, fertility statues, Japanese pillow books, and copies of the Kama Sutra, marriage manuals, and other sexual education materials.
Sex in America: Art & Artifacts from the Kinsey Institute Collection, 1900-1968
July 1–October 15, 2005 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
Sex in America featured photographs, prints, drawings, and watercolors by American artists, including Thomas Hart Benton, Paul Cadmus, Maynard Dixon, Harry Engle, Jared French, Rockwell Kent, Douglas Kirkland, George Platt Lynes, Irving Penn, and Clara Tice. Also on display were movie posters, cartoons, and a variety of artifacts and novelty items.
2005
- The Allure of Clothing: Function, Fantasy, Fetish, Fashion | Mathers Museum of World Cultures, Indiana University
- Sex among the Lotus: 2,500 years of Chinese Erotic Obsession | Museum of Sex, New York City
George Balanchine and his Dancers: The Ballet Photographs of George Platt Lynes
January 28–February 8, 2003 | Kinsey Institute Gallery
George Balanchine and his Dancers exhibited photographs from the Kinsey Institute's important collection of work by the 20th century American photographer George Platt Lynes. Images included portraits of George Balanchine, the Russian-born choreographer who co-founded the New York City Ballet, and the dancers with whom he worked.
2003
- "Oh! Dr. Kinsey:" Media Reaction to the Kinsey Report on Women Exhibition |
2002
- Sex and Humor: Selections from The Kinsey Institute |
2001
- Interwoven Lives: George Platt Lynes and his friends | DC Moore Gallery, New York City
1999
- The American Century | Gerald R. Ford Museum, Grand Rapids
- Watching from the Wings: Warhol and Dance | Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh
- Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture | Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; The Jewish Museum, New York City
- Invisible Light: Photography and Classification | Inverleith House, Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh; Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki; Museum Villa Stuck, Munich; Moderna Museet, Stockholm
1998
- The Kiss: Selections from The Kinsey Institute | Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts Gallery, Indiana University
1997
- Goodbye to Berlin: 100 Years of Gay Liberation | Akademie der Künste, Berlin
- Rrose Is a Rrose Is a Rrose: Gender Performance in Photography | Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City; Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh
1995
- The Erotic Art of Ukiyo-e: Selections from the Collection | Indiana University Art Museum
1994
- George Platt Lynes Exhibition | The Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, New York University; Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy; Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts Gallery, Indiana University