A Bigger Splash
On Monday, September 17, 2007 the Art Gallery of NSW announced the purchase of David Hockney's A closer winter tunnel, 2006, a work of considerable significance and beauty.
Born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1937, there was a time when David Hockney's wit, productivity and facility caused some frowning and sneering in arty circles - particularly when his work was viewed through the prism of the trademark thatch of bleached blonde hair, owlish specs and 60s gear. Being quite open about his homosexuality at a time when it was neither fashionable nor as acceptable (for celebs) as it is now also brought notoriety.
Now, Hockney is the Grand Old Lad of British art and pretty much taken for what he is: one of the most enduring and innovative artists of his generation as well as one of the most popular and successful. His work has always been in demand: private buyers and public institutions alike have formed orderly and constant queues for
The National Gallery in Canberra bought its Hockney in 1998 under the stewardship of Dr Brian Kennedy. A Bigger Grand Canyon was a controversially expensive purchase during a controversial tenure and now hangs on a side wall above an escalator on the way to nowhere in particular. Sydney's picture is unlikely to suffer the same fate.
The painting consisting of six canvas panels, is the result of Hockney's return to the Yorkshire countryside after decades in California. At around the time he painted A Bigger Grand Canyon, a close friend was ill and dying in Yorkshire and Hockney not only went back to spend time with him, but also made a series of works culminating in Garrowby Hill, a canvas that suggests a transition of the artist's vision and palette from the primaries and sunlit dazzle of the western USA to the more subtle yet similarly dramatic landscape of Yorkshire.
The AGNSW picture shows Hockney is still an artist who never sits still for long: purchased for a respectable $3.6 million with the assistance of Geoff and Vicki Ainsworth, the family of Florence and Bill Crosby and the Gallery's Foundation, A closer winter tunnel 2006 shows the artist continuing the journey of colour and composition, landscape and memory begun in the pictures of 10 years ago. It's a glorious work and is now on show at the Gallery. It adds a significant and hitherto missing element to AGNSW's British 20th century collection.
