A VERY STRANGE MIXTURE
Before leaving for Russia, I decided to have a day to myself in London. It’s been a very long time since I have done this. There was one exhibition that I really was looking forward to and a couple of others which could be worthwhile.
Let’s start with a very ambiguous exhibition « Queer British Art » 1861-1967. The Tate Britain notice had been on my « follow-up » list for three or more months. The exhibition explores connections between art and a wide range of sexualities and gender identities in a period of great change. It begins in 1861 when the death penalty for sodomy was abolished and ends in 1967…I am not going to go into the sexual implications of the law, except perhaps to say that women were not « implicated » by the single sex laws. The word queer was used for this exhibition to avoid imposing more specific identity labels. It won’t perhaps surprise you that we were not permitted to take pictures - and then, did I really want to? Once the pictures were put