When David Hockney asked Edith Devaney if he could paint her portrait, she was aware that he refuses to flatter his sitters. Far from being daunted, she posed with “no vanity whatsoever” because it was an honour to be painted by arguably Britain’s foremost contemporary artist, who routinely turns down portrait commissions.
Devaney was one of 82 sitters – family members, friends and associates – who have posed for Hockney in his Los Angeles studio over the past two-and-a-half years. They include well-known figures such as Barry Humphries, the artist’s siblings John and Margaret, his housekeeper and a fridge repair man.
The portraits – and a still life painted during one missed sitting – will be displayed in a major exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) in London this summer, ahead of a Hockney retrospective at the Tate next year. Devaney is the show’s curator. Having her portrait painted was an unexpected perk. She had never been painted before and was taken aback when she visited his studio and he said: “I’d like you to sit for me.”
Coming face to face with her painted likeness, she says she saw herself in a new light. She was struck by a seriousness of expression that her mother recognised instantly, but which she had not noticed from photographs or the mirror. Nor was she aware that her pose – leaning forward with her head in her hand – is one she adopts when engrossed in conversation. It was pointed out to her later by one of Hockney’s assistants.
“In an age of the selfie, and endless meaningless portraits … it’s interesting how little we know ourselves,” she told the Observer.
Hockney is the Bradford boy who set off for Los Angeles and found inspiration in the American dream, swimming pools and sunlight. A Bigger Splash, his 1967 image of a pool and an unseen diver, is among his best-known paintings. He was made a Royal Academician in 1991, and his 2012 show of East Yorkshire landscapes, curated by Devaney, was a big success, attracting more than 600,000 visitors.
Each of the portraits in his new RA show was created within three days, on a canvas 122x91cm, and with each sitter on the same upholstered chair against a neutral background. Hockney painted them using acrylics, partly because they are quick-drying, and he views the series as a single work. He has long experimented with photography and new technology, but told Devaney that the camera cannot convey the intense emotion of a painted portrait.
He would start work around 9am and continue until late afternoon in his studio, an airy space flooded with Los Angeles light. It is “very orderly”, Devaney said: “The canvas is ready and the paints are all out.” The studio doors tend to be open and he paints to the sound of birds in the garden. There were no preparatory drawings. Hockney drew a charcoal outline straight on to the canvas before painting. He created two portraits of her (although only one will be exhibited), because he suddenly decided to paint her with her hair tied back. She chose to dress informally, in jeans and a stripy top, and Hockney asked her to find a pose that felt natural. Studio assistants fixed her position with charcoal markings around her foot and the chair legs.
She found herself mesmerised by Hockney: “You can tell what bit of your anatomy he’s working on … He’s got an electric easel that he’s able to move up and down, so he’s working at optimum level. You know if he’s on your face or your hands. It’s fascinating to see the colour he’s picking up …
“There are moments when your thoughts slide elsewhere. Then you have existential thoughts. If I’m not concentrating on me, will I look less like me? It does make you think about what you represent in a way that you never do if you’re having a photograph taken.”
She was struck by his “absolute concentration to the exclusion of everything else” with “no conversation at all”: “He’s walking up and down. There’s real fluidity of movement.” There were short breaks – long enough for him to smoke a cigarette: “He’ll sit down in an armchair that’s positioned looking at the canvas … He gets photos sent to his iPad at the end of the day and looks at that all night. The next morning, he knows exactly what he wants to do.”
She described her likeness as quite thoughtful and relaxed, but with a certain seriousness: “He has got me.”
David Hockney RA: 82 Portraits and 1 Still Life will be at the Royal Academy from 2 July to 2 October. It is accompanied by a catalogue, for which Hockney was interviewed by Edith Devaney