David Hockney, R.A. (b. 1937)

This fine and tender portrait depicts Hockney’s most celebrated female sitter, Celia Birtwell (born 1941). Birtwell is a British textile designer, who, along with her husband Ossie Clark, was at the top of the fashion industry in London in the 'Swinging Sixties', and is most famously represented in Hockney's large double portrait Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, 1970-71 (Tate Gallery, London). Hockney has portrayed Celia many times throughout their long and enduring friendship. Although these portraits reflect Hockney's many stylistic changes and technical variations over the years, they consistently capture Birtwell's gentle femininity as well as a hidden steeliness.