I’m saddened to hear of David Hockney’s death. (Perhaps not surprised given his well-known smoking habit, though one could have imagined he might have made his centenary, he was such a stubborn chap and such a lively mind.)
Ironically, today, I was intending a post about Martin Parr, another great artist (photographer) who died in recent months. I’ll save that for another time. Just now I’ll use this space to say my own ‘thank you’ to David Hockney, for the pleasure his work has given me over the years, for his legacy to Bradford (his home city, where he attended Bradford Grammar School and Bradford’s art college) and for his championing of Salts Mill. He was a personal friend of the late Jonathan Silver, the mill’s rescuer and reinventor after the textile business closed. It’s in a large part thanks to the priceless Hockney works and exhibitions that Salts Mill holds that the mill - and Saltaire - are ‘on the map’ and draw visitors. Hockney turned down a knighthood in 1990. He always was a radical, a non-establishment guy, but I actually think it’s sad that he isn’t publicly ranked among our creative ‘Sir’s.
Ironically I’m away this week and don’t have access to my photos, so I shall have to try and work out how to illustrate this with a suitable image. Whether I manage that or not, I say: Rest in Peace David Hockney, paint heaven in all its glory. And thank you for your brilliant, curious, irreverent mind and all the beauty that flowed from your skilled hands through all the media you experimented with. You’ve greatly enriched my life and I shall always be grateful for the privilege of being able to see your artworks in our mill.
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