Making peace with Hockney (temporarily)
Cotton in Manchester. Wool in Leeds. I still remember those words from my uni days. Unfortunately, my lectures on British history and culture didn’t go deep enough. For instance, to Leeds we should also have added Bradford. The evidence is everywhere when we visit. Old mills that have been converted into arts centres and museums.
One of them is the UNESCO World Heritage Salts Mill in Saltaire. This was the brainchild of businessman Titus Salt, who opened the mill in 1853. Whilst working conditions in nearby Bradford were dire, Titus Salt came up with an alternative business model for his enterprise.
He built a village near Salts Mill to house his workforce. This utopia-driven place became Saltaire. Although cloth production came to an end in 1986, the building was purchased by a risk-taking, visionary, creative wizard — the late Jonathan Silver — and turned into an arts space and business hub.
On the day we go there’s an exhibition by Yorkshire-born David Hockney on the fourth floor. I admit that I’ve long had a difficult relationship with Hockney’s work. His colour-rich paintings feel like visual invasions. I don’t mind some of his landscapes (especially the ones inspired by his native Yorkshire) but his “California period” leaves me cold. Yet, the exhibition A Year in Normandie is bold and eye-catching. It consists of just one picture, a frieze measuring just over ninety metres long, that records the changing seasons in and around Hockney’s garden in France.
In addition to this exhibit, there’s also another Hockney-themed space, the 1853 Gallery (named after the year the mill first opened) with drawings and etchings by the artist. A welcoming and spacious bookshop offers visitors a marvellous opportunity to check the latest titles or discover a hidden gem (I came upon a book containing most of Leonard Cohen’s poems and lyrics. I felt as if I’d just been nailed to the ground. A good half hour must have passed)
I would recommend taking a walk around Saltaire. The place smells of creativity and enterprise wherever you wander. Little cafes and gift shops dot the pavement on Victoria Road. It feels almost as if the spirit of Titus Salt is still roaming the streets, making sure his legacy lives on.
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