Francis Bacon and Post-war London Through a Queer Lens

Excellent lecture at the National Portrait Gallery putting Bacon into the context of queer life in post-war Britain.

Gregory Salter from the University of Birmingham led us clearly through a complex subject starting with how Bacon was exploring masculinity particularly with his depiction of men in suits. He discussed how suits were used to display conventionality but could also be a mask.

He went on to discuss why Bacon placed his sitters in abstracted domestic settings partially on the context that the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967 particularly allowed it in private putting it into domestic rather than public space.

Finally he looked at queer networks and their role particularly around Soho. He looked at how Bacon used the photographs of John Deacon as part of his process although crumpling them up and his use of triptychs to  explore aspects of a person rather than an accurate physical depiction.

I came away with lots of new thoughts on the show and a need to revisit it.

 

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