Art & the 60s tells the extraordinary story of London's art world in the Sixties through interviews with the era's artists, collectors and gallery owners.
1. GROOVY GALLERIES
At the heart of the decade's buzzing art scene were two young galleries run by dealers Kasmin and Robert Fraser. Groovy Galleries tells the story of the accomplished business man and the flamboyant friend-to-the-stars who came to epitomise Swinging London.
Q&A: Director/narrator Vanessa Engle answers your questions
Kasmin, a Jewish intellectual and former poet, was the most successful dealer on Bond Street and his stable of artists included David Hockney and members of the American avant-garde.
Fraser, a super-stylish old Etonian with a wildly promiscuous homosexual lifestyle, was nicknamed 'Groovy Bob'. He showed Bridget Riley, as well as many artists associated with Pop Art and played a major part in the fashionable London scene, mixing with film stars and musicians.
Gallery: Highlights from the Tate Britain exhibition
Fraser was financially unreliable and started using increasing amounts of drugs. In 1967, he was arrested with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in the Redlands drugs bust, and was sent to prison for six months. This event was immortalised in Richard Hamilton's famous painting Swingeing London, showing Fraser and Jagger in handcuffs on their way to prison.
Episode one features artists including Yoko Ono, Bridget Riley, Anthony Caro, David Hockney, Clive Barker, Derek Boshier, Jim Dine, Patrick Caulfield, Jann Haworth, Colin Self, Kenneth Noland and Richard Smith; plus Kasmin himself, and friends and family of Robert Fraser.
A major exhibition, Art & the 60s: This Was Tomorrow, accompanied the original broadcast of the series. It ran at Tate Britain from 30 June - 26 September 2004.
