Bacon in Moscow
Event Details
‘A rollicking cultural adventure…Fascinating and true. What a liver!’ — Grayson Perry To celebrate the publication of Bacon in Moscow, a new memoir by James
Event Details
‘A rollicking cultural adventure…Fascinating and true. What a liver!’ — Grayson Perry
To celebrate the publication of Bacon in Moscow, a new memoir by James Birch, the HENI Art Club will host an interview between the author, James Birch, and Rowan Pelling, journalist, broadcaster, writer and stand-up comedian. The interview will be followed by an audience Q&A, open to all spectators.
Bacon in Moscow is a funny and personal account of an audacious quest by James Birch, the young British curator, to mount the ground-breaking Francis Bacon exhibition at the newly furbished Central House of Artists, Moscow in 1988.
Published by Cheerio, the book tracks Birch’s journey to open the landmark exhibition, which becomes somewhat sidelined by the British establishment. Birch found himself not only the subject of a honey-trap, but also the focus of the KGB and a picaresque and shady cast of officials, attachés and politicians. Birch’s exhibition brought an unseen Western culture to Russia during perestroika, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, making it part of the sea of change in the events that subsequently unfolded.
James and Rowan will divulge the scandals, triumphs and lows faced throughout the book, making for a funny and insightful telling of this artistic adventure at a time of political upheaval. Bacon in Moscow will be available to all HENI Art Club members in our eBook library from 27th January, ready for you to read before the event.
POAPs will be issued to all attendees, please ensure you join the Zoom webinar using the same email address you would like to be contacted on about the POAP.
‘I don’t know much about espionage – but I know what I like, and I love this book. Five gold stars!’ — Harland Miller
‘Funny, exhilarating and heart-breaking all in one go!’ — Polly Stenham
Schedule
7 – 7.40pm: James Birch interviewed by Rowan Pelling
7.40 – 8pm: Audience Q&A
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Virtual Event Details
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Time
(Wednesday) 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
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Speakers for this event
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James Birch
James Birch
Art Dealer, Curator & Gallery Owner
James Birch has been a promoter of modern art exhibitions both in the UK and overseas for over thirty years. He opened his first gallery, James Birch Art, in 1983, which specialised particularly in showing the work of Surrealists and Young British Artists. His second gallery, Birch & Conran Fine Art, opened in 1987 in London’s Soho, and a decade later he opened the A22 Gallery, in Clerkenwell, London. James has exhibited artists including Grayson Perry, Francis Bacon, Gilbert & George, Breyer P. Orridge and Austin Osman Spare and Denis Wirth-Miller in galleries all over the world. Image: Carla Borel
Art Dealer, Curator & Gallery Owner
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Rowan Pelling
Rowan Pelling
Journalist, Broadcaster and Deputy Editor of Perspective Magazine
Rowan Pelling is a journalist, broadcaster and deputy editor of Perspective Magazine. She writes regular articles for the Daily Telegraph, including features on the visual arts. She spent eight years editing The Erotic Review magazine and guest-curated Sotheby’s first two auctions of erotic art, Erotic: Passion & Desire (2017-18). She’s been a Man Booker Prize judge and has presented documentaries for Radio Four on kissing, procrastination, shoes, Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss, and The Story of O.
Journalist, Broadcaster and Deputy Editor of Perspective Magazine