David Hockney unveils new portraits of his oldest friends for National Portrait Gallery exhibition

Fifty years of friendship is going on show at the National Portrait Gallery where David Hockney has unveiled new portraits of some of his oldest companions.

They include five of designer Celia Birtwell, created last year, and images of two other long-term friends and models, Gregory Evans and Maurice Payne.

Birtwell, who was captured alongside her then husband and fellow designer Ossie Clark and their cat in the 1970 painting Mr And Mrs Clark And Percy, said her friendship with Hockney made posing less intimidating.

“David is an old friend of mine, so sitting for him is not quite as daunting as it might be for someone who doesn’t know him,” she said.

“It is very quiet, and intimate, as David doesn’t like extraneous sounds, and concentrates intensely. It has always been like that, and I expect that when I’m asked to sit, so it isn’t intimidating for me.” Asked why Hockney had painted her so often over the years, she said: “I don’t really know! I’m very flattered … in my opinion he’s the best draughtsman we have working now. It’s a great honour to be drawn by him.”

The 10 new works, in a ­walnut-brown shade of ink favoured by Rembrandt, were inspired by the gallery’s decision to put on the show and are described as “fond evocations of time spent together” and attempts to “come face to face with the ageing process”. They are among 150 exhibits, gathered from major museums and private collectors around the globe, including portraits of the artist’s parents and work created with a polaroid camera and iPhone.

Curator Sarah Howgate said drawing worked for Hockney as “a record of his encounters with those close to him”.

She added: “He has returned to this intimate circle over and over again and, because their faces are so familiar to him, achieving a likeness does not distract from the search for a more nuanced and psychological portrait that also records the passage of time.”

Hockney, widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest living artists, drew half a million visitors to a 2017 show of his work at Tate Britain — the most popular exhibition in its history. His piece The Splash sold for £23.1 million this month.

David Hockney: Drawing from Life opens on Thursday and runs to June 28