Studio Voltaire Exhibition Reassesses Beryl Cook Alongside Tom of Finland

Studio Voltaire in London presents an exhibition pairing Beryl Cook with Tom of Finland, aiming to elevate Cook's artistic status beyond her popular kitsch reputation. The show challenges decades of critical dismissal, highlighted by a 1996 statement from then-Tate director Nicholas Serota that Cook would never appear at Tate Modern. Cook, who died in 2008, gained initial recognition through The Sunday Times Magazine in the 1970s, yet her work remained relegated to calendars and greeting cards. Tom of Finland, born Touko Laaksonen, began circulating his homoerotic drawings in pornographic magazines by the late 1950s, achieving institutional acceptance for critiquing homophobia. The exhibition contrasts Cook's working-class subjects with Tom of Finland's hyperreal, sexual utopias, noting that queer communities faced greater persecution. Curators focus on Cook's scenes celebrating sex workers and deviance from conservative values, such as her 1987 painting Personal Services, which references madame Cynthia Payne's trial. Works like Lady of Marseille (c. 1990) depict mundane details like bin bags alongside defiant, leopard-print-clad figures, painted with devotional precision. Big Shoes (2006) monumentalizes everyday purchases, presenting strappy shoes as idealized forms. The exhibition argues that prejudice against Cook stemmed from distaste for working-class women's humor and intellect, not artistic triviality. It runs through 25 August.