Opera House sells Hockney portrait – but not for a song
THE ROYAL Opera House is to sell a David Hockney portrait of its former chief Sir David Webster in a desperate bid to raise funds amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The painting will be auctioned at Christie’s this month and is expected to fetch between £ 11m and £ 18m, it was reported.
It depicts Sir Webster, who ran the opera house from 1945 to 1970, and was commissioned for the Covent Garden building in the 1970s.
“This was a really tough call,” Alex Beard, the ROH’s chief executive, said.
“But we have to face the situation we are in and if we can remain viable and get through this, then we can get back to employing people in the future.
“We are the biggest arts employer in the country and we knew we had to look at any assets we had. And there is only really one of any note that stands out and that is this portrait.”
The sale is part of a fourpronged plan to protect the venue’s standing as the home of the Royal Ballet and of international opera in the face of the pandemic.
That strategy also includes staff redundancies and a major drive for donations, it was reported.
Educated at Bradford Grammar School and the Bradford College of Art, Hockney left West Yorkshire in 1959 to attend the Royal College of Art in London, but it was in Los Angeles where he established himself in the mid1960s as a leading light in the new pop art movement. He is considered to be one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century.