Watson knew the legendary gay American film director, George Cukor, well enough to ask him to sponsor him in connection with Watson’s visa application to visit America in the later 1940s. One wonders if the American immigration authorities would have opened a file on Watson.
Results for search of category: Peter Watson
Greta Garbo,Cecil Beaton and Peter Watson
Cecil Beaton had a well-known relationship with Greta Garbo over a number of years. It was not an easy relationship. One aspect of it which Beaton did not relish was the nexus between him, Peter Watson and Greta Garbo. As everyone who knows anything about Beaton’s life knows,Beaton was obsessed by Peter Watson from 1930, when he met him in [Read More…]
Looted Art
I went to a lecture at the London Jewish Cultural Centre last night. The chairman was David Glasser, who is chairman of the Ben Uri Gallery, and the main speaker was Howard Spiegler, a New York lawyer who specialises in acting for claimants. David Lewis, the chairman of the Commission for Looted Art in Europe, also spoke. The scale of the [Read More…]
Norman Fowler and Nevis
Just returned from the beautiful Caribbean island of Nevis. There on 23rd March 1971 Norman Fowler was found dead in what may have been mysterious circumstances. Fowler was Peter Watson’s last boyfriend, his main heir and the only person present in Watson’s flat when he drowned in his bath in his Rutland Gate flat in 1956. After that Fowler vanished [Read More…]
Peter Watson and Horizon
On 1st February 2013 I gave a lecture at the Sotheby’s Institute in Bedford Square, under the auspices of the Burlington Magazine, about the art contributions to Horizon. This is a very brief synopsis. A transcript of my lecture is available on request. Founded at the end of 1939, Horizon was funded by Watson. The initial editors were Cyril Connolly [Read More…]
Peter Watson and Denham Fouts
A biography of Fouts is about to be published by Arthur Vanderbilt. It will be interesting to see what is said about the relationship between Fouts and Watson. They met in about 1933. Watson was in the throes of a relationship with a rich young American called Robin Thomas. Fouts was also American but not rich. He was also highly [Read More…]
Peter Watson and Francis Bacon
As work on Watson’s biography continues, one thing which is becoming apparent is the importance to Bacon at certain points in the development of his reputation of his link with Peter Watson. It is unknown when they actually met. They moved in the same part of the London art world and may well have met during or shortly after the [Read More…]
Vienna
Just back from Vienna where we saw a Henry Moore sculpture called Hill Arches in the Karlsplatz outside the Karlskirche and a Francis Bacon (Seated Figure of 1960) in the Albertina. Otherwise we were conscious that we were in the City where Cecil Beaton met Watson for the first time in the Summer of 1930.
Freud Portraits
At last managed to see the terribly crowded show at the NPG. The rooms cannot bear the numbers of people, who when I was there were concentrated in the rooms showing the earlier more interesting pictures. There was basically no-one lingering in a room showing the Benefits Supervisor lady and the large male nude, whereas it was impossible to move amongst the [Read More…]
Peter Watson and others in Sicily
Just returned from Taormina. Peter Watson visited in 1950/1, staying at the grand hotel, the San Domenico Palace. Nearby was Truman Capote, who lived there at the time, and also the Englishwoman, Daphne Phelps, at Casa Cuseni. She had a string of high profile cultural visitors and it would be interesting to know if Watson was one of them. It would [Read More…]