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When Francis Bacon divided opinion in Moscow

Book Review – ‘Bacon in Moscow’ By James Birch, with Michael Hodges

By Robin Dutt

James Birch is one of the most original and maverick gallerists and curators in the country and very possibly the world. A big claim, perhaps but knowing him for some 35 years or so, and witnessing his shows, displays, performances and ‘happenings’, I am confident that no one will be able to refute this. He it was who championed a then unknown Grayson Perry and hosted the artist’s ‘Sardine Cinema’ at the end of the King’s Road, where the object was to cram as many souls as possible into the space of this once Victorian domicile turned art space? For those who saw the flickering flick, who can forget Perry’s ‘A Pucker-Lipped Cow’ (Yes, yes…’Apocalypse Now’). Then there was Jennifer Binnie riding practically naked to the gallery on a white horse, a la Lady Godiva. I seem to recall she had a bit of silver netting about her. She and another Binnie sister or two once also strapped/sellotaped themselves, naked to a vintage Rolls Royce and cruised down Cork Street in its art hey day, at one of the street’s then annual summer parties.

So, it will not come as a complete surprise to learn that Birch’s book is a memoir/document celebrating a most unusual event in Russia – the unveiling of a Francis Bacon retrospective at the Central House of Artists, Moscow in 1988. Bacon’s unique depiction of the human (especially male) body has always caused controversy but garnered also the praise of eminent critics and of course the young. But this project was so typical of James Birch. I had been a guest at an event (call it a tableau vivant?) where jazz maestro George Melly was playing a game of cards with some ‘nuns’ and seemingly lost each hand and removed layer after layer of clothing until he got down to his wizened underpants. Rather yellow and grey. He lost another hand which meant the removal of said pants to reveal a small, wizened willy. It’s all in the name of art, you know… Birch is a magnet for such affairs and people and a dalliance with the seemingly bizarre – but of course full to bursting with art credentials – is his style. One might say that he more than recognises and appreciates originality – especially when controversial.

And so this book about Bacon reminds just what a shock the master must have caused all those decades ago in a Russia, nay Soviet Union, which had not much (if any) time for eccentricity or flouting convention. And little time for Western values, one might add. I remember encountering Bacon one twilight in Soho, his eyes living coal (probably on his way to the Colony Rooms), his hair jet black from boot polish. He it was who famously intoned at a do – ‘Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends’.

Birch with Michael Hodges have assembled archival photographs, transcripts, copies of telegrams and also hilarious quotes from Russian artists, gathered from the visitor’s book, about the whole Bacon experience. It is also an important document recalling Soviet-Western relationships at the time before Russia emerged as the eagle she was under the Tsars and now is again. These quotes from fellow creators range from the sublime to the plainly lost in translation. ‘Bacon’s vision! Why is it so horrible?’ ‘Speaking frankly, this exhibition depressed me.’ and ‘ I would like to ask artists: “Haven’t we got anything better to show than this daub?” As ever, Bacon divides opinion and thought, as this lively text recounts.

It is, at once the work of Birch’s creative spirit and a mischievous one at that, who had to brave convention, hostility, the possibility of any kind of positive reception – and all this, under the eyes of the KGB; And just before the fall of the Berlin Wall. This gives the book an immediate and important time context.

Grayson Perry himself says of the book, that it is ‘a rollicking cultural adventure…fascinating and true.’ This is a fast-paced and informative read for anyone interested by revolutionaries – of every kind.

Published by Cheerio. £20 (Hardback)

Book Review - 'Bacon in Moscow' By

A moving tale of one of England’s treasures

Book Review – BALRAJ KHANNA – Born in India Made in England

By Robin Dutt

Balraj Khanna is one of the most tireless and enthusiastic painters working in Britain today. His art, frequently featuring dancing motifs (seemingly anonymous shapes, yet full of life) on hyper colour backdrops, are celebrated around the world and many comparisons have been made with master abstract painter, Joan Miro. In both cases (and with also, say, Kandinsky in mind) Khanna seeks to create symphonies out of his canvases, scores and music sheets too which contribute to the flow and mellifluous nature of his oeuvre. Carol Jacoby of Tate Britain refers to ‘his strong intellectual base’, his style ‘at once distinct, personal and universal’. Bryan Robertson calls him ‘one of the most distinguished artists working in England’.

Much has been written about the very real connection between the Indian subcontinent and England, for many Indians, seen as a type of maternal figure. This aspect of respect, of course, did not come without certain disagreement, dissention and downright hatred of a conquering nation expressed by many – and few would, especially today, argue with that. The conflicts, massacres (on both sides), mistrust and distrust are items of historical reference material but still vivant and fresh, amidst much change and development.

This book is described as an ‘Autobiography of an Artist’ and if the first word inevitably involves the real essence of a journey, then one comes more than close to Khanna’s intention to set all down on paper. He’s a striking, elegant man, tall, sartorial and imposing, with snowy white hair and a ready laugh and smile which is more than memorable. You know when he walks into a room. Look at pictures of him as a young man at one of his openings and that man, defying time, is still there today.

Khanna grew up and witnessed the cataclysmic Partition of India in 1947. He went on to be a Foreign Correspondent between 1971 and 1972 during the India-Pakistan War. He began his love affair with England as a young child falling for the charms of the richness and poetic possibilities of expression – even in everyday prose. And then, returning to his work, are not his treasured motifs, apart from notes on a score, letters or ‘characters’ on a multicoloured page, telling a sensual and sensuous story? This love of the English language was the cornerstone (along with British culture in general) for his decision to come to London in the bitter winter of 1962, which many still remember – a time of ice and smog – where, as a ‘foreigner’ it cannot have been an easy task to simply merge with the day to day of being. Khanna has much to say about this. But an artist, in general, has only his work that he regards and understands as important. The minutiae of life’s little ironies and direct brickbats (forget the bouquets) are as nothing when you create other worlds within a new one.

Khanna with his infectious charisma made a superb start in England when at the age of only 28 he was invited to have a solo show at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and has had several private and public shows, notably at the Hayward Gallery, Serpentine Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum and Brighton and Hove Museum. He has had a lifetime of lecturing at such august establishments as Oxford and Cambridge Universities and the Royal College of Art. As a talented writer, his novel, ‘Nation of Fools’ was awarded the Royal Society of Literature’s Winifred Holtby Prize for a first novel, in 1984.

In ‘Born in India Made in England’ one learns about the equally ‘special relationship’ one might often hear trumpeted, regarding the UK and US when one considers India and the UK. The text is written from such a personal perspective that the author’s voice is tangible and real. Snippets and snatches of remembered conversation, add a directional element. You can almost hear that famous laugh of his, in some passages.

This is an energetic, funny, sad and moving tale of one of India’s sons and one of England’s treasures.

Published by Unicorn Press. £25. (Hardback).

Book Review - BALRAJ KHANNA - Born