After subscribing for 13 years, it's still exciting to hear a new issue of 'Vogue' thud through the letterbox. And even more exciting still to see an article in the contents on this blog's inspiration, and the woman who has been written about most on this blog too, the equally inspirational Celia Birtwell. I've loved digging out my old issues to re-read articles for the purposes of this blog, as well as discovering NM is a fellow Vogue hoarder and discussing them with her. And, for the first time, be right in sync with' Vogue'! And while we curse ourselves for not buying that iconic Celia cover 1985 Paris Vogue (I'd only recently stopped reading 'Twinkle' magazine back then, and it did become a collectors' item after only 3 months.' Vogue', not Twinkle), the fact that both Hockney and Birtwell are still in 'Vogue' and the closest of friends after all these years speaks volumes about them both as artists and friends.
While I'll try not to spoil the article for you, and would encourage you to go out and buy it yourself (it's worth it for the pictures alone), I will say that I was delighted to discover new insights about Hockney and Birtwell's enduring relationship. Not least that they were friends with the other's partner (Birtwell was friends with Peter Schlesinger and Hockney with Ossie Clark), rather than each other initially and yet it is their subsequent friendship which has survived. Christopher Simon Sykes quotes Hockney saying that "(Celia) is very, very sympathetic and she knows how to make me laugh. She plays with words, which I like, and she has a sense of the absurd. We got very close and I suppose I was in love with her". Simon Sykes observes that "Her gentle feminine side strongly appealed to Hockney...As they comforted each other, he began to transfer the feelings he had for Peter on to her." Of Hockney, Birtwell says "I think he found we spoke the same language about his unhappiness and broken heart, so he used me as his confidante...He's been very supportive, encouraging me to be brave and show my talent. We have a really good friendship..I like my relationship with him. He makes me laugh and he thinks I'm quite funny. So that's good." While the article never makes clear the exact nature of their relationship when Hockney was imortalising her in his art most prolifically (and it's none of our business anyway), it is fascinating and deeply inspiring to observe how two visionary, iconic working class northerners who dreamed of bigger things went on to influence the worlds of art and fashion and each other, continuing to this day.
Post Author CM
I have one question, Twinkle Magazine? Its a new one on me, it was all Bunty and The Four Maries when I was a kid!
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