David Hockney’s painting of Harry Styles to go on display at London’s National Portrait Gallery

August 3, 2023 9News Nigeria Europe 0

A photo recently posted online shows the 29-year-old ‘As It Was’ singer with a playful grin, wearing a striped orange and red cardigan, a pearl necklace, and blue jeans. The 86-year-old Hockney is seen smoking a cigarette while making finishing touches to the portrait.

The artwork is among more than 30 new portraits that will be displayed for the first time when David Hockney’s forthcoming ‘Drawing from Life’ exhibition opens on 2 November at London’s National Portrait Gallery. 

Although Styles stands as one of the globe’s most famous pop idols and notably became the first man to feature on the front cover of Vogue, Hockney nonchalantly remarks that Styles was simply “just another person who came to the studio.”

“David Hockney has been reinventing the way we look at the world for decades,” Styles admitted to British Vogue. “It was a complete privilege to be painted by him.” 

Other portraits that will go on display at the National Portrait Gallery include works of Hockney’s late mother, Laura Hockney; his esteemed fashion designer companion, Celia Birtwell; his former partner, Gregory Evans; and various people from the local Normandy community. 

This exhibition had previously graced the halls of the National Portrait Gallery for a fleeting 20-day span in 2020, only to be postponed due to the pandemic. 

In addition to the 33 new works, there will also be colour-pencil drawings created by Hockney in Paris in the early 1970s, as well as a selection of drawings from the 1980s, when the artist created a self-portrait every day over two months.

‘David Hockney: Drawing From Life’ will be at the National Portrait Gallery from 2 November to 21 January 2024.