Victoria/Stanley

T. E. Lawrence as a Cadet at Newporth Beach, near Falmouth

Henry Scott Tuke

I liked the way Tuke catched the warmth and glow of a summer day. He had a lovely way to paint light and I like this style halfway between Impressionism and Expressionism. The moment frozen in time and the very strong brush strokes. So I googled him, to see what else he painted and read a bit about his life. Another eccentric it seems; he bought an old fisherman's boat and remodeled it into a swimming atelier. What makes perfect sense, given his preference for nude male models bathing and sunning lazily at the beach. The paintings are lovely, but I can see how that remained a niche in late Victorian times. He was associated with the Uranians, an intellectual group worshipping male beauty (youths) and the special relationship between older teacher and young pupil. Today that would raise eyebrows for sure, and it did then. But he also painted lots of ships moored ashore, which was a sought after genre then, and portraits; but I found only males: sailors, old seamen, some children and so on.

Unsurprisingly, today some of his nudes are printings on beach towels and posters, shower curtains and so on. I must say, I'm inclined to get one of those... They are really beautiful. Oh my. And he is thought one of the early queer artists of modern times, even if he was extremely discrete about his personal life. Interesting man.

Some of those nudes, for your delight:

finally got these done after hours of procrastination