The legendary Kinsey Institute, tucked away in a discrete corner of Indiana University since 1947, is well known for the pioneering work on human sexual behaviour begun by its founder and namesake, Alfred Kinsey. What fewer people know is that the institute is home to an extremely impressive collection of art relating to human sexuality.
The collection includes artistic treasures from all around the world, and going back in history more than 2,000 years. A rotating collection of unique artworks, artifacts, documents and objects can be seen in the Gallery at the institute. These range from works by the likes of Picasso and Chagal, to a fine collection of “Tijuana Bibles” — small pornographic comic books from the 1930s and 40s — to ancient handmade Japanese books with color woodblock prints of sexual positions.
If you can’t make it to Bloomington, the Kinsey Collection also now has images some of the art and artifacts available to browse digitally.
Know Before You Go
The Gallery is open regularly Wednesday – Friday from 1:30 – 4:30. The Kinsey Institute & Gallery are located in Morrison Hall 313 on the IU campus. Morrison is behind Memorial Hall (on 3rd Street) and between Hawthorne and Ballantine Streets.
