Share artist's love affair with India at Hepworth Wakefield's exhibition

Howard Hodgkin never got to see the fruits of his labours with The Hepworth Wakefield but it's safe to say he would be pleased with the end result.
Mrs Acton in Delhi, 1967 by Howard Hodgkin.Mrs Acton in Delhi, 1967 by Howard Hodgkin.
Mrs Acton in Delhi, 1967 by Howard Hodgkin.

This is the first comprehensive exhibition to explore the enduring influence of India on the work of the artist, who died in March.

It was a place he returned to almost annually since his first trip to the country in 1964.

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More than 35 works are on display, painted over the last 50 years, which characterise the colour and warmth of India and capture the artist’s sensory impressions of the country - from fierce blazing sunsets to heavy oppressive rains, landscapes and cities he has visited, and portraits of the people he befriended.

They range from Hodgkin’s earliest India-inspired paintings of the 1960s through to new works completed early this year and includes a number of paintings that have never before been exhibited in the UK.

Rarely seen photographs and documents from Hodgkin’s personal archive are presented, including material relating to his 1992 British Council commission in New Delhi with the architect Charles Correa, as well as journals kept by the artist documenting his journeys in India, which are on public display for the first time.

Works from the artist’s personal collection of Indian art, which first led Hodgkin to visit the country and provoked his enduring love affair with the place and its people accompany the exhibition.

You can see the exhibition at the Hepworth Wakefield until October 8.

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