Hockney - rubbish!
October 9 2017
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The co-curator of Tate's recent Hockney exhibition has said that while the artist is a great draughtsman, he's not all that when it comes to painting. Speaking in The Times Chris Stephens says:
“I don’t think he’s a terribly highly skilled craftsman when it comes to paint,” said Chris Stephens, co-curator of David Hockney, which became the second most successful show in Tate history after Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs.
“He’s one of the most brilliant draughtsmen of all time, but the painting is less accomplished.”
Mr Stephens, who was lead curator of modern British art and head of displays at Tate Britain, added that Hockney was “brilliant at capturing people’s psychological aspect, their psychological demeanour”.
Shrewdly, Stephens has waited till after the Tate show is finished to say all this. In Britain, we call this kind of thing a 'Gerald Ratner' moment.
