Hockney curates Turner at the Tate
Two titans of British art past and present are to converge with a David Hockney-curated exhibition of JMW Turner's paintings at Tate Britain this summer.
The gallery has announced that more than 165 Turner watercolours are to be displayed in a major showcase of his work alongside a simultaneous exhibition of new Hockney landscapes.
Hockney has collaborated with the Tate curators to select the watercolours, including Turner's Thames studies and his late masterpiece The Blue Rigi, which was saved for the nation following a recent public appeal to raise the £4.95 million needed.
Bradford-born Hockney, 69, regarded as one of the most influential living British artists, will also show five new oil paintings depicting the same view of Woldgate Woods in East Yorkshire during different seasons, for the first time.
The exhibition in June will form the highlight of Tate Britain's summer programme and will allow visitors to contrast Turner's landscapes with Hockney's 21st century oil paintings of his native countryside.
Stephen Deuchar, Tate Britain director, said: "This is a rare opportunity for us to mount an exhibition of Turner's greatest watercolours, which due to conservation reasons, can only occasionally be exhibited.
"I am delighted David Hockney has agreed to work with us on the exhibition. It will show the development of the virtuoso techniques that enabled Turner first to paint watercolours that could compete with oil paintings and later transform all aspects of his art by their example."
Hockney said: "Turner is one of the masters of the watercolour. I am thrilled to be working with the Tate on this major exhibition and to study in depth their extraordinary collection."
