The Erotic Drawings

Fascinating online talk from Charleston Farmhouse and part of OUTing the Past: The International Festivals of Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Trans History looking at the newly discovered erotic drawings of Duncan Grant.

Darren Clarke, Head of Collections at Charleston, told us how the drawings had come into the collection of the house having been given to Edward La Bas in 1959 labelled “These drawings are very private” then having been passed from lover to lover until donated to them last year. It had previously been thought that they had been destroyed by La Bas’s sister on his death.

Clarke looked talked about the influences on the pictures such as Greco-Roman traditions and contemporary physical fitness magazines while showing us a wonderful selection of these tender and joyful images. He also discussed how they fit didn’t fit with the thinking of the this time when homosexuality was still illegal and how the fitted into Duncan’s life and more publicly known art.

This was a great introduction to these drawings and I look forward to seeing how Charleston presents them in the future given some of the pictures are very explicit.

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