
Charlotte Redman
Associate Specialist
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Sold for £20,480 inc. premium
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Associate Specialist
Provenance
Stephen Spender Collection, UK (a gift from the artist)
Natasha Spender Collection, UK (by descent from the above in 1995)
Private Collection, UK (by descent from the above in 2010)
Gifted from the above to the present owner
The present work by David Hockney was produced during his collaboration with Stephen Spender on China Diary, a jointly conceived travel book combining Spender's prose with Hockney's illustrations. The work bears a handwritten note from Hockney to "Stephen," apologising for a tear in the paper, an intimate gesture underscoring its status as a personal gift from artist to subject.
Hockney and Spender enjoyed a close friendship from the 1960s and collaborated on two significant projects: China Diary (1982) and Hockney's Alphabet (1989), the latter raising funds for the Aids Crisis Trust. At the time of the China journey, Spender was seventy-two, in frail health, and facing financial pressures. The commission, arranged by his agent Ed Victor, offered both the opportunity for travel and the most lucrative contract of his career. They were also joined on this journey by Hockney's companion, Greg Evans, whom Spender likened to a Botticelli figure.
The sketch was drawn during a stopover in Tokyo Airport, where Spender described himself as "saturated with exhaustion like a sponge with water." In his own reflections on the image, Spender acknowledged the blunt accuracy of Hockney's portrayal, noting his "bulbous cheeks, chins, limbs and fingers," in contrast to his two youthful companions. The portrait serves to embody a dual honesty: Hockney's unflinching eye and Spender's candid self-awareness.