Protected Beauty

“Protected Beauty” examines masculine beauty through the lens of artists represented in the Kinsey Institute’s art collection. Many of the works in this exhibition came to the Kinsey Institute at a time when there were little to no other repositories that would accept artwork that presented the male nude outside of socially accepted contexts.

Naomi Wilzig established her Miami Museum with a similar intention. She explained that she wanted to evoke the sensual experience of the pleasure and pain of love and also wanted to send a message of tolerance that acknowledges the community and diversity of mankind. The traveling exhibition “Protected Beauty” is a logical collaboration between two American institutions that focus on fostering an understanding of human sexuality. The result is breathtaking, beautiful, and full of social and political relevance. The exhibition includes works by Robert Mapplethorpe, George Platt Lynes, Wilhelm von Gloeden, Mike Miksche, Paul Cadmus, Pavel Tchelitchew, Andrey Avinoff, and Marcel Vertes.