Gay Gatherings: Philip Johnson, David Whitney and the Modern Arts explores interactions at the Philip Johnson-designed Glass House among eight men who profoundly shaped twentieth century artistic culture: architect Philip Johnson and his longtime partner, curator/collector David Whitney; composer John Cage; choreographer Merce Cunningham; ballet impresario Lincoln Kirstein; and artists Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol.

Coincident with the 50th anniversary of New York’s Stonewall Uprising in 1969, a watershed in the contemporary rights movement, and the 70th anniversary of the completion of the Glass House in 1949, Gay Gatherings underscores an essential element of the site‘s history that has not been fully presented as part of its public interpretation up to this time. “The exhibition highlights the Glass House as an intellectual and artistic gathering place,” says Thomas Mellins, co-curator of the show, “where these men’s work was collected, exhibited, and performed.”