David Hockney: Family and Friends

For London Gallery Weekend, Offer Waterman is delighted to announce their presentation of an exceptional selection of rare and early works by Britain’s greatest living artist, David Hockney.

David Hockney: Family and Friends is an exhibition of works on paper and photographic collages of Hockney’s inner circle spanning over three decades of artistic production: experimental works from his early career whilst still a student at the Royal College of Art in the 1960s, detailed line drawing portraits from the 1970s and photographic collages from the 1980s.

The selection includes Heaven Perpendicular (c1960-61), one of an important series of highly imaginative and personal compositions which demonstrates the young artist coming into his own, through the development of his unique pictorial language. Peter Crutch, Hockney’s unrequited crush and fellow student at the Royal College, who features in numerous works from this period, appears to be the subject of Hockney’s lust in this painting, his name referenced by way of a bold letter ‘P’ floating next to the figure’s head.

Fleeting, intimate moments are captured in Artist’s Father (1973). This superlative line drawing of Hockney’s father Kenneth, showcases both the artist’s technical deftness and the distinctive, easy charm he brought to the medium.

In the deeply personal photographic collage, Mother, Los Angeles, December (1982), the artist’s mother Laura Thompson is presented seated in Hockney’s Hollywood Hills house, covered with a rainbow crocheted blanket in front of his prized possession Pablo Picasso’s, Artist and Model, 1965.

The gallery has established a significant international reputation for expertise in works by the artist, dealing in the best examples across all mediums, delivering the critically acclaimed historical exhibition David Hockney: Early Drawings in 2015 and more recently sponsoring David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020 at The Royal Academy of Arts (23 May - 26 September 2021).

Gallery opening hours during London Gallery Weekend:

Friday 4th June 10am - 8pm
Saturday 5th June 11am - 6pm
Sunday 6th June 11am - 5pm