Last Tuesday Society

The Last Tuesday Society is a London-based organization founded by William James at Harvard and run by artist Viktor Wynd[1] with directors Allison Crawbuck and Rhys Everett, putting on literary and artistic events monthly.[2]

Today, The Last Tuesday Society is active in many fields, from expeditions to Papua New Guinea, lectures, seances, a taxidermy academy, curiosity museum and home to London's most curious cocktail bar[3] serving traditional Absinthes[4]in the true Belle Époque fashion.

The Society has put on a large array of parties over the last eight years or so, including Halloween Balls,[5] Wyndstock, a festival at Houghton Hall in Norfolk,[6] The Animal Party,[7] From The Beast To The Blond – a Fairy Tale Masked Ball with Marina Warner[8] The Orphanage Masked Ball,[9] a Danse Macabre[10] and 'Loss; an Evening of Exquisite Misery' and modern day version of Gunter Grass's Fictional onion cellar nightclub from The Tin Drum where guests dress in decaying beauty, chop onions and cry.[11]

Viktor Wynd's Little Shop of Horrors was located in Mare Street Hackney and dealt in taxidermy, shrunken heads and all things odd.[12] Viktor Wynd Fine Art was a commercial gallery where over 50 shows were curated including on Mervyn Peake[13] Tessa Farmer[14] Leonora Carrington[15] and Stephen Tennant[16] In 2014 the shop and art gallery were converted into The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History[17] and a bar[18] following a kickstarter campaign[19] The Society has a long association with Hendricks Gin who have sponsored 'The Hendrick's Quarterly Seance'[20] and seem to currently be sponsoring the exhibitions program on Alasdair Gray, Gunter Grass & Mervyn Peake.[21]

The Society also has put on what it claims to be London's longest running lecture series with over 500 lectures in the last ten years.[22]

Collectors, researchers and absintheurs Allison Crawbuck and Rhys Everett joined the Society's Cocktail Bar in 2016.[23] Together, they have curated the UK's most extensive list of premium quality, traditional absinthes and curious cocktails to pair.[24] The Last Tuesday Society was voted the Best Bar in London by 180,000 public voters for the DMN Awards 2018/2019.[25]