Cathy's Art Diary

Small exhibition at the National Theatre of photographs documenting Queer life in Britain. The works are on loan from Queer Britain to mark the theatre’s production of “Pride” which incidentally I saw a few days earlier and loved.   I managed to see the exhibition on the day of London Pride by chance so it had an extra poignance. I loved this picture of Ian McKellan and Michael Cashman leading a Pride march and this portrait of the out footballer, Justin Fashanu. Closes September 2026

Useful four week online course from the National Gallery introducing four art historical approaches which can be used to ‘read’ paintings. The four approaches were social history, decolonisation, feminism and queer studies and each week we took a picture from the gallery’s collection and discussed it with one of these approaches in mind. Inevitably to make a point, the discussion sometimes felt a bit one dimensional and we sometimes strayed a long way from the painting in question to look at history of the art historical approach. I think week one looking at social history was the most natural to my approach. John Fagg, from the University of Birmingham, looked at “Men of the Docks” by George Bellows from 1912. I do like to know about the context of a picture and what it shows about the times it was painted in as well as what the market for the type of work might have been. Ana Howie, from the University of Cambridge, took the decolonisation theme using “Drunken Silenus Supporte...

Fabulous exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery looking at Queer pictures of men in the 20th century and the development of physique photography. The show was arranged around areas of London where men went who were seeking other men and looked at the aesthetics that developed there that were unique to the city. The show was so tender and was as much a history of Queer London as of the images. I found lots of wonderful stories I want to find out more about. I was intrigued to find photographs by Keith Vaughan, an artist I know quite well but I’d never come across the photographs. I was also delighted to find the work of Montague Glover as I’d seen a book by him years ago, which I loved, of photographs of soldiers and working men. I’ve just looked up the book and it’s now £280 second hand! Closes 12 June 2023  

I nteresting online lecture from the National Portrait Gallery for members looking at portraits of queer sitters in the collection. Tim Redfern, performance artist and gallery guide, took us through a selection of works which he said “inform and inspire my Queer life”. It was a personal selection with an interesting bias towards people who lived in Rye where he lives. My queer history knowledge is pretty good but I’d not realised that Henry James was gay and that E.F. Benson later lived in the same house, Lamb House, in Rye. Or that Radcliffe Hall had also lived in Rye. Away from the Kent town the talk began with James I and the Duke of Buckingham; the wonderful Edward Carpenter shown there painted by Roger Fry; the cross dressing Chevalier d’Eon who I have since listened to a full lecture about and Jan Morris. A nice touch was to compare a portrait of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears with a photograph of Christopher Bailey and Simon Woods with their daughter to show how attitude...

Small display at the British Library of newspapers, leaflets and ephemera from the LBGT+ Community in the 1970s and 1980s. As the commentary says it “reflects a time of consciousness raising, identity building and activism”. It is wonderful that this very temporary feeling material has been kept. It not only narrates the history of gay lives and rights in the period but also of how issue related   ideas were spread pre-internet. I liked the humour in it “Bi-Monthly” for the bi-sexual magazine. Every group seemed to have a paper or magazine. It was good to see the infamous “Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin” which partly sparked Clause 28 banning the promotion of homosexuality. Closes 30 October 2022    

Fun event at Charleston Farmhouse inviting four queer artists to respond to the collection of over 400 erotic drawings by Duncan Grant which have recently been discovered. The event started with Darren Clarke, Head of Collections at Charleston, telling us about how the drawings came into the collection and giving an overview of what they include. Artists and activists, Neil Bartlett, Tanaka Mhishi and Kuchenga then responded to the work in in the form of though provoking essays. I particularly liked Bartlett’s piece which talked about how homosexuality was illegal when the drawings were done and how liberating yet secret that made them. These talks were broken up by short comic, life drawing sessions by Harry Clayton-Wright, for which we had each been given paper and acrylics to join in. I attach one of my efforts here. I’m not sure some of the other poses would pass the Google Blogger censor. I really enjoyed the exercise and want to do more. This session was part of a Queer ...

Moving exhibition   at the Whitechapel Gallery looking at the history of LGBTQ+ spaces in London from their growth in the 1980s to the current threats from developers. This was a small show but tightly packed with stories told through ephemera. It was a bit wordy and it took me while to slow down to read the long but interesting descriptions of the different clubs, cafes and community spaces. There were sections on the City of Quebec originally associated with gay Second World War airmen returning from war and the wonderfully named Women’s Anarchist Nuisance Café. I was fascinated by the story of the Joiners’ Arms, a gay pub which closed in 2015. The flag shown here flew outside it. It was closed due to a redevelopment of the area however Tower Hamlets has insisted that the developers grant a 25 year lease to an LGBTQ+ venue and contribute to the fit out costs. The show also included some contemporary art works my favourite of which was a board of leaflets collected...

Lovely exhibition at Brighton Museum using outfits and oral histories from LGBTQ people from Sussex from the 1960s to the present day to look at how individuals construct personal and collective identities. This was a lovely way of telling stories and there were some fascinating tales. From an outfit from the comedian Zoe Lyons, through the wedding outfits of a Lesbian couple, a jacket from David Raven aka Maisie Troilette to a selection of clubbing outfits. I liked the way the show including everyday clothes as well as club wear. I chose the outfit worn by Sophie Cook from election night 2017 when she hoped to be the first transgender MP as my picture for this entry. Closes Summer 2019

Delightful evening at Tate Britain combining a viewing of the Queer British Art exhibition with a music provided by singers from English National Opera. It was nice to go round the exhibition again as I had loved it first time round. There were some fantastic pictures in the show and it told some great stories. It was really enhanced by the lovely concert half way though the evening of works by Noel Coward, Ivor Novello and Benjamin Britten. The songs really complimented the pictures and the singers played out all the nuances in them. I particularly loved a Noel Coward song, (We All Wore a) Green Carnation, which I’d not come across before and I thought I knew my Noel Coward quite well!

Fabulous exhibition at Tate Britain looking at the connections between art and sexuality and gender identity from 1861, the abolition of the death penalty for sodomy, to 1967, the partial decimalisation of sex between men. There was so much fantastic work in this show I feel I could write pages on it but I’ll resist! My only criticism was that it was a bit unsure at times if it was about LBGT art or the history of LBGT life in this period. Don’t get me wrong either would be fascinating but to do the latter fully would have needed a much bigger exhibition. For example I loved seeing Noel Coward’s dressing gown but wasn’t quite sure how it fitted a show on art. Similarly one section got a bit focused on the changing role of women and how female artists broke barriers by starting to do life studies but again this seemed to belong to a different show, much as I am happy for any excuse to see the wonderful Laura Knight self-portrait, I felt this might be a subject for another great ...