David Hockney

Rachel Federman: I'm Rachel Federman, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary drawings at The Morgan. Since the 1960s, Celia Birtwell, pictured here, has been one of David Hockney's most constant muses. This drawing belongs to a group of colored pencil portraits of friends and lovers that Hockney made in the mid-1970s while living in Paris. In contrast to other more finished drawings from this period, this sheet with its visible alterations and smudging has a casual air about it that matches the close and comfortable relationship between sitter and artist. The reclining nude, usually, but not always female, is a perennial subject in the history of Western art. Hockney is an avid student of that history, admiring perhaps above all, the eclectic and influential oeuvre of Picasso, for whom the reclining nude was a major theme. Two such drawings by Picasso are on view nearby. It is instructive to consider both the similarities and the differences in these artists' depictions of their subjects. Although many of Picasso's female subjects, usually lovers, have been identified, Hockney approached Birtwell with a keen attention to the specifics of physiognomy and character that hints at the tenderness of their friendship.