In the early to mid nineties, David Hockney experienced so much loss, that he felt the strong need to reconnect with love.
He started to capture his two adored dachshunds, Stanley and Boodgie and in doing so, he started to capture love.
Hockney himself has described the feeling as following:
“I think in January I wanted desperately to paint something loving.
[…] I felt such a loss of love I wanted to deal with it in some way.
I realized I was painting my best friends, Stanley and Boodgie.
They sleep with me; I’m always with them here.
They don’t go anywhere without me and only occasionally do I leave them.
They’re like little people to me.
The subject wasn’t dogs but my love of the little creatures.”
Painting Stanley and Boodgie required meticulous planning, Hockney had set up easels around his house and always kept a separate palette ready, in order to capture the dogs quickly and in their natural poses.
These never lasted long, since “Dogs are generally not interested in Art…Food and love dominate their lives.”
The 1995 exhibition and subsequent book, Dog Days was a huge success, endless people came to visit, even bringing their own dogs to see the pictures!
However, none of the paintings were for sale.
“They are too intimate, too personal”, Hockney explained.
You were great models AND friends, sweet Stanley and Boodgie.
xez