Naturists tear a strip off Tate for snubbing plea to view exhibition in nude

Gallery is accused of ‘stonewalling’ nudists after other institutions open doors to naked visitors

WHEN Philip Baker discovered that Tate Britain was having an exhibition of paintings celebrating the naked human form he set about trying to arrange a special visit.

The 63-year-old former computer analyst wrote to ask whether he and fellow nudists could have a naked viewing of the All Too Human show, which features works by Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon.

But, after repeated telephone calls and numerous emails, the London gallery has failed to respond, prompting Mr Baker to accuse Tate of unfairly discriminating against nudists.

Mr Baker, from East Sussex, said: “I think of us as a minority who are discriminated against. It’s likely that the Tate is stonewalling us or simply taking no notice of us. Perhaps they thought we were just odd.”

Mr Baker, who is treasurer of the Eastbourne Naturist Swim Club, says “clothes optional” visits are being used by more art galleries to boost visitors.

Earlier this year, the Palais de Tokyo museum in Paris opened its doors for the first time to nudist visitors. And earlier this month, the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne held a viewing where clothes were optional.

Mr Baker, who helped organise the event, said people travelled from as far as Milton Keynes and Birmingham to support it. “We were at ease with each other,” said Mr Baker. “They even allowed one of the staff members to strip off and join us.”

Joe Hill, director at Towner gallery, said: “It was well attended and we received some brilliant feedback.”

Laurent Luft, the president of the Association des Naturistes de Paris, believes Tate could be losing out on a lucrative market. “One only has to visit any naturist club or resort in France, where there are loads of British people, to see how big naturism is in the UK,” he said. “However, if a venue refuses a nude visit, I don’t necessarily take it as nudophobia. It could be that there are simply no dates available or they have huge windows that open on to a public street.”

A spokesman for Tate said: “We receive many requests to organise private visits to Tate’s galleries and we do our best to accommodate as many as possible. We are looking into this re- quest and will be responding as soon as we can.”

Mr Baker has visited the exhibition while fully clothed, but believes being naked would be more fulfilling.

“Being naked in public is not actually against the law. We are just ordinary people who like doing ordinary things, but just not wearing clothes,” he said, adding that he was bewildered why Tate had not responded.