To mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales, Tate Britain will host the first exhibition dedicated to queer British art.
The exhibition will present work produced between the abolition of the death penalty for sodomy in 1861 and the passing of the Sexual Offences Act in 1967 – a time of seismic shifts in gender and sexuality that found expression in the arts, as artists and viewers explored their desires, experiences and sense of self.
With works by major artists such as Francis Bacon, Keith Vaughan, Evelyn de Morgan, Gluck, Glyn Philpot, Claude Cahun and Cecil Beaton, Queer British Art 1861-1967 will showcase the rich diversity of queer visual art and its role in society. Themes explored will include coded desires amongst the Pre-Raphaelites, representations of and by women who defied convention (including Virginia Woolf), and love and lust in sixties Soho.
