David Hockney at the National Portrait Gallery, London 

Thank you for watching. Really glad you enjoyed this.

Thank you again for watching!

Thank you so much for watching. So glad the music was ok because that is hard to get right while remaining in copywriter! A memorable show which has stuck with me.

Thank you so much for watching.

Thank you so much for watching from Portugal!

Thank you for watching. I agree - this is Hockney at his best. The digital paintings don't compare. Do you know what, I didn't actually check the catalogue and I was back at the NPG last night with a friend and hadn't seen your message. I usually do. Really sorry.

@@artgalleryexplorer thanks, not a problem. At least I can look online these days!

Thank you for watching and an interesting comment. I guess it was a different side of Hockney and one that is less hyped. I loved the curation - it felt satisfying and I was so disappointed by the last display of portraits at the Royal Academy. www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/david-hockney-portraits I found them superficial but these full of meaning.

Thank you for watching. I didn't get to see Yevonde Life and Colour, unfortunately, and I regret that. I hear it was enlightening?

Thank you for watching and subscribing. Have a go at drawing in the style of Maurice with the flowers - I enjoyed that one. He says he feels 30 when he's painting!

Very much so. The focus on four sitters plus self-portraits really worked and stripped back to something more authentic, I think. The only bit I didn't really enjoy was the Normadny portraits at the end. Thank you for watching.

Do you know if this exhibition will come to the U.S.?

I have not heard that it is, unfortunately. If hear differently, I will post. It was a strange one because the works were bought together in 2020, returned to their owners and then bought back again. @@Squiffy1313

Agree - and this, by focusing on the line/drawing refreshing.

Is he even that talented a draughtsman? He seems to have a contempt for the process of drawing evident in most of his works on paper, the kind of contempt for labour a grifter or a hustler might have. There hasn’t been a passionate mark made by his hand for 40 years. I saw his exhibition at Charleston last year and it’s one of the worst shows I’ve ever experienced. The fella’s (can be) terrible.

I disagree with regards to this show but each to his own. He definitely splits opinion. I found this refreshing because it reacquainted me with a more authentic artistic voice and I could see the skill in his line. A definite issue is over exposure. There are just too many Hockney shows. I found the 2016 exhibition at the RA - '82 portraits and one still life' really poor. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the Charleston one. I missed that but, from you say, didn't miss much!. @@gilbertwalker3222

That’s fair enough and I appreciate your content! Over exposure is certainly an issue with Hockney. For most of my adult life he’s dominated exhibition spaces, perhaps unfairly. Van Gogh is over exposed, especially in recent years but can you ever really have enough of Van Gogh like you can Hockney? I saw the show at the RA in 2016 as a teenager and it did leave a lasting negative impression, unfortunately much like the one at Charleston recently (I was more impressed with the quality of the materials he was using rather than the marks he was making himself). For myself, Hockney straddles a middle ground of draughtsmanship, a sort of purgatory. He doesn’t have the raw, mystical Englishness of Samuel Palmer, or the Gothic expressiveness of William Blake’s outline. He doesn’t have the classical acuity or the beauty of Raphael, nor the wittiness or skill of Da Vinci. His drawing doesn’t have the delicacy or lightness of touch a Joseph Beuys sketch has, the energy a Kirchner evokes, the economy and efficiency of line Munch produces nor the illustrative and decorative charm Kai Althoff’s picture making possesses. It just seems tentative, safe, even when viewed in isolation. It does often leave myself questioning whether he actually enjoyed the process of creating and working. However, maybe this show is the show, and I’ve seen a fair few Hockney shows already, that’ll change my mind about him! I’m willing to like Hockney!

Interesting analysis. I think he loves the process of creating - he keeps going, after all when he doesn't need to financially. Sadly, his later portraits are just not good. There is a coolness to much of his work, a bit of detachment which can be off putting compared to the artists that you mention. I actually found this show did not have that as much. @@gilbertwalker3222