Eakins and Koch together at the Wichita Art Museum

The Wichita Art Museum is currently exhibiting Murdock and Beyond: Pairings from the Permanent Collection, in which works of of art from its permanent collection are provocatively grouped. The public is invited to compare and contrast the paintings and sculptures in each set. 

One pairing in particular caught my eye: a portrait of a boxer by Thomas Eakins entitled "Billy Smith," and the painting "The Window Washers," by John Koch. Both are admiring, realistic images of fit young men, and that is, presumably, why they were put together. This would not be notable except for two reasons: Kansas's religious and political conservatism, and the fact that the labels make no mention of homosexuality.

Even without knowledge of art history, the paintings are so intensely focussed on their subjects that the sexual undertones are obvious. The Eakins is a close view of a bare-chested man raising his arms, and Koch emphasizes the biceps and crotch of the window washers. Koch's painting is the view of a privileged person admiring service workers, and suggests gay fantasies about firemen and UPS delivery men. The museum labels reveal that both artists were male, but little else.

Quick research on Eakins and Koch may not confirm that the two were gay (in Eakins' case the label is probably an anachronism, and Koch was married), but certainly reveals discussion of gay themes in their work. It is well known that Eakins painted and photographed male nudes and that his career suffered for it, while Koch's self-portrait with a male model at the Brooklyn Museum is even more suggestive than "The Window Washers."

What is the Wichita Art Museum doing in presenting two gay(ish) paintings without explanation? Could the museum mean to pass them off as merely skilled realistic paintings about boxing and life in New York City? The museum is being coy. Someone there wanted to make a statement but could not do so blatantly, and instead offers Kansas art curation that is still in the closet, and further proof that Kansas needs to get its head out of the sand.