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Lot Essay
Richard Neville records Hockney's portraits of himself and fellow Oz colleagues Felix Dennis and Jim Anderson in his autobiography 'Hippie Hippie Shake', London, 1995, p.272, as follows:
"I sat naked on the chair, as David Hockney, his eyes huge through pop specs, coolly appraised my loins. I felt shy and under-equipped. The artist sketched quickly. Conversation was minimal. Hockney had come to the basement at the behest of the Friends of Oz, our new PR lobby group. Dozens of artists had donated works to the Oz defence fund. The pieces de résistance were Hockney's drawings of the editors nude, for which each of us agreed to pose. The originals would be auctioned, along with numbered lithographs, combined into a triptych. 'What a fuss over Rupert Bear', Hockney said. 'Do you think the Prime Minister's behind it ?'. I shrugged. It was all over in minutes."
"I sat naked on the chair, as David Hockney, his eyes huge through pop specs, coolly appraised my loins. I felt shy and under-equipped. The artist sketched quickly. Conversation was minimal. Hockney had come to the basement at the behest of the Friends of Oz, our new PR lobby group. Dozens of artists had donated works to the Oz defence fund. The pieces de résistance were Hockney's drawings of the editors nude, for which each of us agreed to pose. The originals would be auctioned, along with numbered lithographs, combined into a triptych. 'What a fuss over Rupert Bear', Hockney said. 'Do you think the Prime Minister's behind it ?'. I shrugged. It was all over in minutes."
