‘Homage to Michelangelo‘ by David Hockney. Inscribed to Vera Russell, who was the model for the women in this piece

It is always exciting when books and artworks by David Hockney arrive in the shop, and we are particularly thrilled with two monumental inscribed David Hockney prints that we have recently acquired. One of the things that makes these prints so special is the fact that they are both inscribed and presented by the artist to his close friend Vera Russell, who is a fascinating character in her own right. Discover more about the prints as well as Russell’s life below.

Vera Russell, sketched by David Hockney in 1978 and photographed by Dorothy Wilding in 1931

Vera Russell (née Poliakoff, 1911-1992) lived a vibrant and eclectic life. She was born in St. Petersberg and, fleeing the Russian Revolution, arrived in Britain with her family in 1918. She took an early interest in the theatre and forged a career as an actress (under the stage name Vera Lindsay) on London stages throughout the 1930s. She also appeared in a small number of films, including adaptations of Shakespeare plays and the supernatural thriller ‘Spellbound’ (1941). Her interests were ever evolving, and during the 1940s she embarked upon a brief career as a war reporter.

Eventually the subject of Russell’s writing turned to art, and by the 1960s she was married to the art critic John Russell and had totally immersed herself in the art world, earning a reputation as an influential patron of the arts and tastemaker. She was known for her impeccable eye and her tough, exacting character – the art critic William Packer described her as “redoubtable”, and the novelist Francis King stated that “she was both a remarkable and a difficult woman. Had she not been difficult, she would not have been so remarkable”.

A detail from Hockney’s Metropolitan Opera Stravinsky poster

Russell was a member of the Artists’ Market Association and ran a gallery in co-operation with her artist friends and colleagues in various guises, including Gallery Arts and the Artists Market, in former warehouses in Covent Garden from 1973. She was notable as one of the few gallery directors to champion unknown and experimental artists, as well as established artist such as Hockney and Robert Medley, at a time when arts funding was unstable. Russell’s galleries were housed in buildings owned by Christina Smith, a property owner and art collector who became known as ‘The Queen of Covent Garden’ for her part in saving and fostering the cultural character of the area.

As well as gallery directing, Russell also worked with the independent arts publisher The Petersburg Press, long-time printers of Hockney’s posters who eventually acted as his worldwide agent. Russell notably initiated and directed the production of ‘Fizzles/Foirades’ by Jasper Johns and Samuel Beckett and The W. H. Auden and Henry Moore publication ‘Auden / Moore: Poems and Lithographs’.

Pages from our copy of “Fizzles/Foirades”

Russell’s virtuosic navigation of the social and professional spheres could easily be considered her greatest skill, and she was incredibly well connected. Her address book includes details of famous ballet dancers, novelists, composers, socialites and royals, though her relationships with visual artists remain the most significant. Maggi Hambling worked as her secretary in the 1960s before her painting career took off, an experience she described as “lovely”. Russell maintained close friendships and lengthy correspondences with many groundbreaking artists including Hockney, Francis Bacon and Henry Moore. Hockney made several artworks of and dedicated to her, and writes of her particularly fondly, always starting letters to her with ‘dearest Vera’. Our two prints inscribed to Russell offer a wonderful record of this friendship.

‘Homage to Michelango’ is a copperplate etching and aquatint that shows two women, both of whom are modelled on Russell, walking towards each other, with designs referencing the sketches of Michelangelo and words from T. S. Eliot’s poem ‘The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock’ on the wall behind them. It is signed and inscribed across the bottom edge, “for Vera with much love and appreciation (for posing). David. xx”, and numbered two of twenty artist’s proofs, outside of an edition of 200. It was created for ‘Omaggio a Michelangelo’, a portfolio of prints by various artists inspired by Michelangelo, issued on the artist’s 500th birthday by Studio Bruckmann, Munich.

The second print is a fantastic poster for The New York Metropolitan Opera’s Igor Stravinsky Triple Bill, staged in December 1981, for which Hockney was the stage designer. It is inscribed by Hockney along the bottom edge, “For Vera love from David”. Throughout his career Hockney has provided the stage design for eleven operas and ballets, a format to which he brings his characteristic use of bold colours and shapes and deceptively simple, playful composition. Hockney’s set designs are set to be projected in the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern in 2027 as part of a major retrospective in celebration of his 90th birthday.

Russell’s gallery was sadly forced to close by rising rent and arts council funding withdrawal by the dawn of the 1980s. While her influence was often conducted behind the scenes and remains largely unnamed to this day, her impact on the 20th century art world is undeniable. Her obituary in The Times astutely states she was “the great unknown factor without whose subterraneous workings the face of British culture would surely have been radically different”.

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