The Nude Painting That Scandalized Fort Worth

Now hanging at Schoelkopf Gallery in New York is a sensual nude, created by American painter Ben Johnson in 1957. In it, a female figure reclines languidly, her pale form in contrast to a series of bright color fields aligned along her spine. There’s a curvilinear rhythm to the composition—the color bands pulsing around the subject’s cream-toned silhouette, accented by the backdrop of blazing pink and magenta. It’s a heightened yet intimate scene.

When Johnson’s works were exhibited in Texas in 1959, however, the good people of Fort Worth had rather different opinions about his famed nudes. One of his canvases, , was regarded as “indecent” and an “outhouse etching,” its exhibition deemed “irresponsible” and “sick.” The outrage was such that the Ministers’ Association weighed in, calling the picture “offensive to the religious morals of the people of our city” and demanding its removal from display.

That storm now feels like a distant memory, as Johnson’s , also included in the Texas show, resurfaces at Schoelkopf as part of an exhibition drawn from the collection of late artist and gallerist Robert A. Ellison Jr. A Texas native, Ellison moved to New York in the early 1950s, where he fell in with the Abstract Expressionists. A painter himself, his support for his peers would see him amass a formidable collection of modern and postwar art (as well as hundreds of ceramics he donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art).

A selection of that trove has now been brought back into the light by gallerist Andrew Schoelkopf, whose father was a close friend of Ellison’s.

“Bob was an incredibly intelligent person, very creative, very inquisitive,” Schoelkopf told me during a visit to the exhibition. “He was really interested in a wide variety of things, in addition to being a painter. He was a dear friend of virtually all these artists. Just about everything in the show was bought directly from the artists.”

Among the pieces featured at “New York City Circa 1960: Works from the Collection of Robert A. Ellison, Jr.” are Milton Resnick‘s early abstractions, Pat Passlof’s dense compositions, a clutch of serene nudes by Robert De Niro, Sr., and a vigorous portrait by Elaine de Kooning. According to Schoelkopf, none of the works have been exhibited since the 1960s.

One corner of the space is dedicated to ephemera from Ellison Gallery, which the collector established with his then-wife Nancy on the ground floor of his family’s furniture store in Fort Worth after returning to the city in 1959. His support of these artists—who also include Jay Milder, Wolf Kahn, and Robert Beauchamp—is immortalized in pamphlets, clippings, correspondence, and photographs.

But among the works on view, it’s Johnson’s Nude that hints at the most colorful back story, it being one of 13 paintings included in Ellison Gallery’s Johnson solo show in 1959. The gallerist had even opted to display prominently in the front window, as some sort of provocation. The Fort Worth Art Association, after all, had declined to exhibit that composition the year prior. “I’ll make a protest for aesthetic freedom,” the gallerist told a newspaper.

His bold showcase, unmissable on a bustling downtown street, was accompanied by a sign that read: “This painting was rejected by the Forth Worth Art Assn. as being ‘vulgar.’ What do you think? Come in!”

The opinions came rushing in. Outlets from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to the El Paso Herald-Post followed the brewing controversy breathlessly, while messages arrived from the public. The condemnations were to be expected—the era held “different beliefs and understandings of artworks,” as Schoelkopf put it. More incredible were the letters of support, particularly after the rebuke by the Ministers’ Association.

“What amazes me is that a businessman in this town would get up the courage, alone, to do what you did,” wrote one Charles Murphy. “My congratulations to you, for a boost to the rear of hypocrisy,” went another letter. And most gleefully, from Buddy Reeves: “I have not seen this very controversial picture in question and hadn’t thought that I wanted to, but now I feel that I must see it. Maybe it will corrupt my morals, if any. What a truly delightful thought!”

Alas, the statement from the church leaders proved the final blow. After four days, Ellison removed Johnson’s painting from the window of the gallery (‘s whereabouts today are unknown). The scandal, however, had turned the artist into a minor celebrity. By December 1959, he had a painting hanging in the Fort Worth Art Center. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Johnson’s attendance at the museum where he announced, “We are here to defend the faith.” He would continue to exhibit in New York and Chicago until his death in 1967.

Ellison himself, of course, can claim to be another such stalwart defender. He may have ultimately taken down the painting, but his point, it seems, had been made.

“We have aired our protest for aesthetic freedom which is our only sincere intention,” a statement from the Ellison Gallery read. “We have nothing in conflict with religious scruples, but never let it be said that the minority should not have spoken.”

“New York City Circa 1960: Works from the Collection of Robert A. Ellison, Jr.” is on view at Schoelkopf Gallery, 390 Broadway, third floor, New York, through July 2.

Correction (June 26, 2026): A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Ben Johnson’s Nude was the painting at the center of the controversy in Fort Worth. In fact, The Song sparked the outcry during the 1959 exhibition, in which Nude was also included. This article has been updated throughout.