David Hockney is helping to put the ’secret’ Yorkshire Wolds on the tourist map. But one of the artist’s friends is looking at the bigger picture, and urging caution. John Woodcock reports
Never underestimate what a paintbrush can do for an area’s profile. Look at Van Gogh and Provence, at what LS Lowry did for industrial Lancashire, and how the Suffolk-Essex border has become Constable Country.
Now is art about to bring the world to the Wolds? Through David Hockney and two major London exhibitions, a relatively undiscovered landscape is suddenly enjoying unprecedented recognition.
In one case, it received a literally monumental plug. The star of the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition was Hockney’s Bigger Trees Near Warter, a painting 40 feet wide and 15 feet high which filled the end wall of the grandest gallery in Burlington House, Piccadilly.
Not far away, five more of his scenes from the Wolds feature at Tate Britain, accompanying the Bradford-born artist’s selection and analysis of Turner watercolours.
Even within Hockney’s home county, many might struggle to find on a map his “painting zones” around the likes of Thwing, Kilham, Langtoft and Millington. But the Destination Management Organisation – meaning the tourism department – of Visit Hull and East Yorkshire is seeking to exploit the Hockney connection much further afield.
“Just a couple of hours away by train from London lies the real inspiration behind the latest paintings from one of Britain’s most versatile and popular artists of the 20th century. Bring Hockney’s landscapes to life,” says the material promoting weekend breaks involving 13 hotels in the region, and with dinner, bed and breakfast deals starting at £35 per room per night per couple.
If Holmfirth can benefit from Last of the Summer Wine, and elsewhere in Yorkshire capitalises on Heartbeat and Herriot, why shouldn’t the East Riding hitch itself to Hockney, at 70? Despite the Wolds Way footpath, strange hidden valleys, and big horizons which the painter has likened to the American West, the area has barely emerged from obscurity.
For some people, that’s part of its appeal. Hockney’s friend, fellow-artist and gallery owner Tony Hogan, has a familiar dilemma. He’s all for attracting people to the Wolds, and has a vested interest in doing so. On the other hand, he’s concerned that fame by association could see them invaded by hordes with easels and cameras. Would this be counter-productive? The unspoiled, isolated nature of a place which inspires Hockney could be undermined by over-exposure of his work there.
Although Hogan has raised the issue with him, he’s not saying how he reacted. “We want to share the area with others,” says Hogan. “but it’s about striking the right balance. At the moment this is the secret Yorkshire, almost.
“From an artist’s viewpoint, the Wolds are wonderfully peaceful, and notable for their clean light, open skies, great sweeps, and beautiful woodland. The vistas are forever changing. No artist would want to lose that and have their time and space interfered with. There’s a fine line between intrusion and encouraging others to experience the area.”
Hogan is a relative newcomer himself, having previously worked mainly on the moors and coastline around Whitby and Scarborough before “discovering” the chalk uplands to the south through a business venture a decade ago.
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