I popped into Salts Mill the other day, just for a browse around. There were a number of lovely photos of the artist David Hockney, who died recently. As you'll know (at least if you've been paying attention!), he was a personal friend of the late Jonathan Silver.
When Jonathan bought Salts Mill in 1987, after it had closed as a textile mill and was in danger of dereliction, it was quite a gamble. It's easy to look at it now and accept as a matter of fact its artistic and commercial success, but that was by no means guaranteed. It was a stroke of genius to persuade Hockney, a Bradford-born lad, to lend some of his paintings to create the 1853 Gallery, and then to start buying some of his work. The mill now holds the biggest single collection of Hockney's art anywhere in the world.
Hockney's death, though not unexpected I suppose at age 88, has been greeted with profound sadness locally. The tribute (below) from the owners and staff of Salts Mill conveys most eloquently what he means to us all.
It is always wonderful to walk through the mill among all the vibrant and varied artworks that Hockney created, and was still creating more or less up to his death.
Every time I visit I see pictures that I don't remember seeing before, though the large painting that was David's homage to Salts Mill and Saltaire still takes pride of place in the mill's main entrance.
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