28 Apr Next weekend artist David Hockney’s giant work A Year in Normandy, created during lockdown, returns to Salts Mill in Saltaire but why is this artist so connected to a small town in West Yorkshire?
The answer is simple – friendship!
Salts Mill was redeveloped, restored and revitalised by Jonathan Silver in the late 1980s. Silver and Hockney both attended Bradford Grammer School albeit 10 years apart – a 13 year old Silver asked Hockney to design the cover of the school magazine and a friendship blossomed. Their friendship helped create this spectacular gallery – it is home to the largest private collection of David Hockney art anywhere in the world.
It includes work from throughout Hockney’s lengthy career but my highlights are the Arrival of Spring – a series of art works done on an iPad all featuring the lovely Yorkshire Wolds scenery that I’m lucky enough to live right near to. Hockney has always embraced new mediums for creating art and the collection at Salts Mill includes a giant picture created by sending faxes. If you’re not old enough to remember that cutting edge technology – try google!
Hockney painted the Yorkshire Wolds extensively and this was partly down to Jonathan Silver. Sadly both Silver and Hockney’s mother were terminally ill so Hockney spent a lot of time travelling between Saltaire and Bridlington where his mother lived. He was inspired to paint the scenery he saw and Jonathan was keen to encourage this too. So, it feels very fitting that so many Yorkshire works grace the walls at Salts Mill. Hockney even designed the logo for the restaurant at the Mill!
But the Mill is not the only thing worth visiting – it is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site – Saltaire. Built in the 1850s by industrialist and philanthropist Titus Salt for his workers to work, live and play in it’s a wonderful place to visit and wander around. For the workers of the 19th century this small town with its private housing with sanitation, education for their children and an Institute for entertainment must have seemed like a utopia compared to the appalling deprivation in the nearby city of Bradford. To this day it’s still a peaceful and tranquil spot to visit, highly recommended!
