David Hockney’s “Self-Portrait with Charlie” at National Portrait Gallery
David Hockney
oil on canvas, 2005
72 in. x 36 in. (1829 mm x 914 mm)
Purchased with help from the proceeds of the 150th anniversary gala, 2007
National Portrait Gallery, London
National Portrait Gallery buys Hockney portrait
NPG buys Hockney portrait
Martin Wainwright
Friday September 28,2007
David Hockney Portraits exhibition and funds from its 150th Anniversary Gala
A large recent self-portrait by David Hockney has been bought by the National Portrait Gallery from funds raised last year through its 150th Anniversary Portrait Gala and gift aid donations from tickets sold to visitors of its highly successful David Hockney Portraits exhibition. It will go on display alongside a selection of other recent acquisitions to coincide with the opening of the Gallery’s major autumn exhibition Pop Art Portraits on 11 October.
While the Gallery has an excellent collection of photographs of Hockney, and a fine self-portrait drawing and etching, this will be its first painted portrait by the Yorkshire-born artist. The work in oil on canvas from 2005 shows the artist with his friend and former assistant, the New York-based curator, Charlie Scheips. Hockney stands in the foreground in front of a canvas wearing a black shirt and red braces and holding paintbrushes while Scheips sits on a table at the back scrutinising work in progress. read more
NPG – Buys First David Hockney Painting
Thursday 27 September
VISITORS HELP BUY NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY ITS FIRST PAINTING BY
DAVID HOCKNEY
National Portrait Gallery acquires Hockney’s Self-portrait with Charlie with Gift Aid from tickets sold at its David Hockney Portraits exhibition and funds from its 150th Anniversary Gala.
A large recent self-portrait by David Hockney has been bought by the National Portrait Gallery from funds raised last year through its 150th Anniversary Portrait Gala and gift aid donations from tickets sold to visitors of its highly successful David Hockney Portraits exhibition. It will go on display alongside a selection of other recent acquisitions to coincide with the opening of the Gallery’s major autumn exhibition Pop Art Portraits on 11 October.
While the Gallery has an excellent collection of photographs of Hockney, and a fine self-portrait drawing and etching, this will be its first painted portrait by the Yorkshire-born artist. The work in oil on canvas from 2005 shows the artist with his friend and former assistant, the New York-based curator, Charlie Scheips. Hockney stands in the foreground in front of a canvas wearing a black shirt and red braces and holding paintbrushes while Scheips sits on a table at the back scrutinising work in progress.
Exploring his fascination with mirrors and the artist-and-model theme, the portrait echoes the psychological intensity of Hockney’s famous double portraits of the late 1960s and early 1970s. This time, however, the painting shows a triangular exchange of gazes between the artist, the model who – perhaps unnervingly from behind – observes the painting unfold and, ultimately, the viewer. read more