Sunday, 3 October 2010

A History Of The World in 100 Objects: Painting On The Radio

Now I don't care about you, but the cultural highlight of this month for Fagburn is the final countdown of the BBC Radio 4 series, A History of the World in 100 Objects.
We know that straight in at number 97 is this 1966 drawing by David Hockney, In A Dull Village.
Series curator/presenter and British Museum Director, that wonderfully erudite old queen, Neil MacGregor writes: “We have no idea whether the relationship between the two men is recent or of long standing, but at first sight this looks like a calm and entirely satisfactory morning after.”
Steady on!
The image he explains “was shocking for many then, and still is for some today. It raises perplexing questions about what societies find acceptable or unacceptable about the limits of tolerance and individual freedom”.
MacGregor has already chosen such phallic relics as the Taino Ritual Seat (65), homoerotic/pederotic artifacts as The Warren Cup (36), and some of your actual gay iconography, including a coin showing Alexander The Great (31), and a head of Emperor Augustus (35).
Object number 99 is the credit card.
The 100th object will be unveiled on October 14th.
My money's on a cockring.

2 comments:

  1. I could never see the appeal of David Hockney's work as a teenager, but the older I get the more brilliant he seems.
    Sorry, this will be of little interest to any of your readers.

    That's a beautiful piece.

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  2. I was going to post this in the more recent "Is David Hockney Greatest British Painter Be!?" post, but I thought this was more appropriate.

    The BFI just uploaded this fantastic video...

    Love's Presentation (1966)

    Thought you might enjoy it, too. :)

    ReplyDelete