That Wig, Barry, “You Fool”

One year ago, The Tate in London posted a video on their youtube channel of an interview with Barry Joule, an old confidant of Francis Bacon’s during the 1980s and before his death. Joule’s relationship and his gathering of Bacon’s belongings after his death has been controversy since the day Bacon passed away. I had forgotten this sad tale of man who has been living off a mans celebrity for decades. I was shocked to see how crazy Joule’s always entertaining wigs. The wig in question has either been sitting in a closet the last 20 years and he just pulled it out or he hasn’t had it cleaned in such a long time. 

After watching the video, I ran across a link to another interview from 2009 by amazing documentarian Margy Kinmonth. Kinmonth has given us gifts like the The Secret World of Couture or Hermitage Museum Revealed. This interview which I believe was for the BBC eventually, show Joule using the media to his own celebrity. The documented moment as you can see from the video is the giving of a gift to prominent playwright Harold Pinther. A lot of Joule’s Bacon memorabilia and artwork has been called into question over the past two decades. Even Kinmonth calls into question the validity of the gift. I hope poor Joule is not that consumed into the world of celebrity. Hopefully he can finally see the wig form his 2015 interview needs to be tossed in trash and even a Wigbuy wig would be a wise investment.