Stass Paraskos Obscenity Trial 1966

Stass Paraskos (family photograph)
Lovers and Romances by Stass Paraskos, 1966

The Stass Paraskos obscenity trial was a notorious court case held in the northern English city of Leeds in 1966 involving an exhibition of paintings by the Cyprus-born British artist, Stass Paraskos.[1]

Background

Stass Paraskos was born in Cyprus in 1933, but moved to England in 1953. Settling in the city of Leeds he enrolled for classes at Leeds College of Art (later Leeds Metropolitan University) and became an painter.[2] In 1961 he began teaching at Leeds College of Art, and in 1966 an exhibition of his work, under the title of one of the main paintings in the show, Lovers and Romances, was organised for him by fellow artist and lecturer Robin Page in the art college’s gallery, known as the Leeds Institute Gallery.[3]

Obscenity Trial

When the exhibition opened it was allegedly visited by local school group, but the teacher leading the group objected to the painting called Lovers and Romances and two colour sketches on the grounds that they showed a woman masturbating a man. The teacher reported the exhibition to the local police force and the exhibition was raided by the police and closed down.[4] Although initially no action was taken by the Director of Public Prosecutions, at the behest of the local council's Watch Committee a police prosecution was initiated under Section 2 of Vagrancy Act 1838 and Section 4 of the Vagrancy Act 1824.[5]

Following this Paraskos was summonsed to appear in court in Leeds on a charge of displaying paintings that were 'lewd and obscene', in contravention of the Vagrancy Act 1838 and that the images were likely to ‘corrupt and deprave' anyone who saw them. The court case was one of a number of important legal challenges to the freedom of the arts in the 1960s and 70s, starting with the Lady Chatterley trial in 1960, and ending with the Oz magazine trial in 1971.[6]

The Paraskos trial became an international cause célèbre, with articles commenting on and protesting against the prosecution appearing in both the national British press,[7] and internationally.[8]

Despite luminaries of the art world speaking in Paraskos's defence, including Sir Herbert Read and Norbert Lynton, and messages of support from Britain's Home Secretary Roy Jenkins, Paraskos lost the trial and was fined five pounds making Paraskos the last artist to be successfully prosecuted in Britain for obscenity under the Vagrancy Act 1838.[9]

Aftermath

Out of this Paraskos was invited in 1967 to take part in a group exhibition, Fantasy and Figuration, alongside Pat Douthwaite, Herbert Kitchen and Ian Dury at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.[10] Dury was later to become a close friend as they both began teaching at Canterbury College of Art in 1970.[11]

In 2007 the Tate Gallery in London acquired two of the colour sketches that led to the prosecution, and these are now in the collection of the Tate Archive.[12]

References

  1. ↑ See Introduction to Herbert Read, To Hell with Culture (London: Routledge, 2002 edition) p.x
  2. ↑ David Haste, Obituary to Stass Paraskos, in The Guardian (UK newspaper), 28 March 2014
  3. ↑ Norbert Lynton, Stass Paraskos (Mitcham: Orage Press, 2003) 7f
  4. ↑ Norbert Lynton , Stass Paraskos (Mitcham: Orage Press, 2003) 7f
  5. ↑ The National Archives (UK public record office), http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6090864
  6. ↑ Alan Travis, Bound and Gagged (London, Profile Books), 2000, p. 202
  7. ↑ For example, The Spectator, 30 December 1966, p. 839
  8. ↑ For example, Art International: the Lugano Review, Volume 11, 1967, p.50
  9. ↑ Benedict Read (ed.), Herbert Read: A British Vision of World Art (London: Lund Humphries, 1993) 18
  10. ↑ ICA, Fantasy and Figuration, exhibition cat., London, 1967, Tate Archive (London) ref. LON-INS (S.C.)
  11. ↑ Richard Balls, Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll (London: Omnibus Press, 2001) p79 and passim.
  12. ↑ ’Six artworks by Stass Paraskos, and a file of press cuttings, with correspondence, relating to the prosecution of the artist under the Vagrancy Act of 1823‘, in Tate Archive (London), ref. TGA 20074

External links

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