Stephen Friedman Gallery presents Queer love, an exhibition bringing together a selection of significant and recently discovered erotic drawings by British artist and key Bloomsbury group member Duncan Grant (1885–1978) in dialogue with new works by contemporary queer artists including: Soufiane Ababri, Leilah Babirye, Anthony Cudahy, Kyle Dunn, Alex Foxton, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Wardell Milan, Sola Olulode, Tom Worsfold and Jimmy Wright.

The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Charleston, the UK charity that cares for the modernist house, garden and studio of Grant and fellow Bloomsbury artist Vanessa Bell (1879–1961). Located in East Sussex, UK, Charleston was a gathering place for the wider Bloomsbury group and today is open year-round to the public, giving access to its world-class collection of Bloomsbury work. Shown publicly in Charleston’s galleries in 2022, this exhibition is the first time these drawings have been seen outside the UK.

In 1959, Duncan Grant gave his friend and fellow painter, Edward Le Bas (1904 1966), a folder marked with the words: “These drawings are very private”. Inside was a collection of over 400 erotic drawings that expressed Grant’s lifelong fascination with the joy and beauty of queer intimacy. Made during the 1940s and ‘50s, when sex between men was still illegal in England, the drawings were believed to have been destroyed after Le Bas’ death for their explicit portrayal of homosexual desire. They were, in fact, rescued and have remained in private hands ever since – a secret collection passed from lover to lover, friend to friend, for 60 years. After they came to light, this incredible collection was gifted to Charleston.

Influenced by Roman mythology and contemporary bodybuilding magazines, Grant’s drawings were created with pen, pencil and gouache. Charged with desire, they depict muscular bodies performing subversive, often kink-related, sexual acts. The artist’s fluid use of line accentuates his subjects’ impassioned movements. Several of the works also explore interracial sex, adding further potency to the scandal these would have caused if exposed at the time they were made.

Ten contemporary queer artists have responded to Grant’s drawings. From Leilah Babirye’s sculptural explorations of sexuality in the African LGBTQ+ community, to Sola Olulode’s tender paintings of gay love, the works reflect the radical defiance of Grant’s sensual works. These artists’ bold celebration of their identity highlights the significant progress made since Grant’s covert documentation of queer intimacy over 75 years ago.

The exhibition is accompanied by a booklet featuring new essays by Jack Parlett (writer, poet and author of Fire island: love, loss and liberation in an American paradise) and Dr Darren Clarke (Head of Collections and Research at Charleston).