40 years ago: KU art exhibit shut down over ‘objectionable’ drawing
From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for May 22, 1972:
- A graduate student art exhibit at the Kansas Union Gallery had been ordered closed during a recent weekend. The order to shut it down had been given by Kansas University Chancellor Laurence Chalmers, who said he had received several complaints from alumni and that he believed the display was objectionable to numerous persons. The fatal artwork was apparently a drawing by graduate student Katie Graham, which was described by some as “a montage of phalluses.” John McKay, associate dean of the School of Fine Arts, said that the drawing was something of an abstraction and that he had “found it an amusing assemblage of various relationships of lines, spaces and colors.” A better method of dealing with complaints was needed, McKay said.
- [Advertisements] “Stop ruining records! Get a new Diamond Phonograph Needle TODAY at The Stereo Store — AUDIOTRONICS — 928 Mass.” … “We make financing a new car a lot easier than choosing it. Once you’ve chosen the model you want, with all the options you want and in the color your wife wants, let the loan experts at First National take care of financing your new purchase.” … “The Gratified Graduate. We have what-all to please him. Unusual prizes for four years of persistence, look-ahead gifts to serve him in the post-grad months. From briefcases to handsome new suits, the full range of graduate gratifications is on display now. Give grandly! The Town Shop, 839 Massachusetts.”

