The Huntington Gets Hip
“Made in L.A.” represents an effort by the Huntington to expand its contemporary art programming and present more artists of color.
Monica Majoli’s installation for the Huntington Art Museum’s “Made in L.A. 2020: a version.” Her series “Study for Blueboy,” named after an early gay magazine, focuses on centerfolds from 1976 to 1979, the halcyon years of gay liberation.Credit...The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens; Joshua White
April 20, 2021Updated 1:49 p.m. ET
SAN MARINO, Calif. — The juxtaposition is striking. In one gallery, Thomas Gainsborough’s classic 18th-century oil painting, “The Blue Boy,” gazes out from the ornate walls, having just undergone an extensive restoration. In another gallery, an installation by the Los Angeles artist Monica Majoli explores Blueboy magazine, one of the earliest gay publications in the U.S., through sultry images of scantily dressed young men.