The ''Portrait of Sir David Webster'' is a 1971 portrait by the artist

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...

of the arts administrator David Webster. It was commissioned to mark Webster's retirement as the General Administrator of the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal ...

in London. The portrait hung for several decades in the opera house.

Description

The painting depicts a side profile of Webster in Hockney's studio sitting on a

Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...

'MR' chair by a glass-topped coffee table on which stands a vase of pink tulips, a favourite flower of Hockney's. The painting is signed and inscribed 'Sir David Webster with tulips Jan 1971 David Hockney'. It is executed in

acrylic paint Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion and plasticizers, silicone oils, defoamers, stabilizers, or metal soaps. Most acrylic paints are water-based, but become water-resistant when dry. De ...

on canvas. It measures 60 ⅛ x 72 ⅝in (152.8 x 184.5 cm).

Background

Hockney had originally planned to depict Webster in his house in

Harley Street Harley Street is a street in Marylebone, Central London, which has, since the 19th century housed a large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery. It was named after Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.< ...

in the

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it m ...

district of London. Hockney found the commission difficult as he and Webster had not been previously acquainted saying that "I went to visit Webster many times . . . but it took me a long time to find a subject . . . And in the end I thought, all I can do is paint him in my studio". Hockney also felt pressurised by the timeframe of the commission with the painting needing to be ready before Webster's retirement. Webster was presented with the portrait by the singer

Geraint Evans Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans (16 February 1922 – 19 September 1992) was a Welsh bass-baritone noted for operatic roles including Figaro in ''Le nozze di Figaro'', Papageno in ''Die Zauberflöte'', and the title role in ''Wozzeck''. Evans was esp ...

on behalf of the singers and staff of the opera house in February 1971. It was usually displayed in the Amphitheatre Bar on the top floor of the opera house. Webster died a few months after the completion of the painting, and it has been perceived as a memorial to him. Webster was seriously ill during the execution of the piece and Hockney worked up to 18 hours a day to complete the painting. The portrait was the first commissioned portrait that Hockney had undertaken, having previously only painted portraits of acquaintances. It was his last commission until his portrait of

Glyndebourne Festival Opera Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...

manager George Christie and his wife, Mary, in 2002 for the National Portrait Gallery in London. Three studies for the ''Portrait of Sir David Webster'' are in the British

Arts Council Collection The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both h ...

Criticism

Hockney's 1971 painting ''Still Life on a Glass Table'' has been seen as complementing Webster's portrait in its composition. Webster's pose was echoed in Hockney's depiction of his father in his 1976 portrait ''My Parents and Myself''. The glass table and tulips also featured in Hockney's 1968 painting ''Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott''. Webster's portrait was completed by Hockney at the same time as his 1971 painting '' Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy''. The painting demonstrates Hockney's technical mastery of acrylic paint; in their essay accompanying its 2020 sale

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémis, t ...

praises the artists "layers of tonal gradation that contribute to the work's rich chiaroscuro effects" with the folds in Webster's suit being "a triumph of textural manipulation, while fine strokes of colour pick out the strands of his hair and the metallic glow of the chair leg. Each of the flower heads is individually tinted, like faces in a crowd". In a 1975 article ''

Architectural Digest ''Architectural Digest'' is an American monthly magazine founded in 1920. Its principal subjects are interior design and landscaping, rather than pure external architecture. The magazine is published by Condé Nast, which also publishes internat ...

'' described Webster as "coldly indifferent to the empty background" in the painting and critiqued the "lonesome tulips" and described the lighting of the scene as "flat", "icily arrogant" and "dry".

2020 sale

It was put up by the

for auction at

in 2020 due to a decline in their income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. It sold for £12.8 million against a presale estimate of £11 million to £18 million. The Royal Opera House lost 60% of its income since its closure in March 2020 as a result of the national lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. The chief executive of the opera house, Alex Beard, said that there was no alternative to the sale of the painting as the survival of the institution was at risk. Beard said, "We have to face the situation we are in . . . and get through this." In addition to selling the portrait, the opera house has applied to the British government's

Culture Recovery Fund The Culture Recovery Fund is a grants programme issued by the UK Government as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund aims to financially support cultural organisations in England (such as theatres, museums, and music venues) which had be ...

for a loan, and plans significant redundancies and a fundraising drive.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Portrait of Sir David Webster 1971 paintings 20th-century portraits Paintings by David Hockney Portraits of men Royal Opera House