Hockney’s home city dedicates gallery to his work

The city of Bradford has announced plans to dedicate a gallery to the work of David Hockney, born there in 1937. The city’s Cartwright Hall – a place that Hockney remembers fondly from his childhood, as “the only place in Bradford I could see real paintings” – will house The David Hockney Gallery, which will include a range of his works, from early sketches to familiar paintings, his latest iPad drawings, plus prints and photographs. Among the works included and owned by Cartwright Hall is Le Plongeur, a classic Hockney pool scene from 1978.  

The gallery will officially open on July 7 – two days before the artist’s 80^th birthday. The opening is accompanied by a series of events taking place in Cartwright Hall and the surrounding Lister Park. According to Cartwright Hall curator, Jill Iredale: "It was important to us that we mark this birthday of one of the world's most significant, influential and engaging artists who just happens to be from Bradford.”

The gallery is expected to present works that have rarely been seen, and which have certainly never been seen together – a claim that is sure to draw more visitors to the often overlooked city.

"I hope that all ages will be inspired by the story we will tell of how a boy from Bradford was always destined to make his mark on the cultural landscape of not just this country but across the globe for more than six decades”, Iredale affirmed.

If we consider Bradford’s initiative along with Hockney’s recent portrait-series exhibition at the Royal Academy of London, the publication of A Bigger Book (which came along with the big price of 2,000), and a retrospective at the Tate (planned for February to May) – it becomes clear that we are currently in a crazy-for-Hockney state that appears to be nowhere near its end.


Source
Source
Source
Source