…and into the light of day. Gifted now to Charleston, an extraordinary collection of erotic works by Duncan Grant; and as explained in this BBC News video clip:
Produced during the 1940s and 50s, the more than four hundred works were given by Grant to his close friend and fellow artist Edward Le Bas (here some biographical details at Charleston, and here some of his work at the Tate) in 1959, and after Le Bas’ death in 1966 presumed to be lost. We now know, they just moved on; changing hands, ending up about eleven years ago with the theatre designer Norman Coates, and it is he whom is to be thanked for providing for this interesting addition to the complicated artistic legacy surrounding the Bloomsbury Group.
It also says something, and one tends to forget, about just how very recently it is that society (and not just British) has changed such that homoerotic works, like Grant’s drawings, may be openly shared without fear of legal repercussions or gasps of outrage.