In our November 2014 Living With Artsupplement art critic Celina Fox met the artist Howard Hodgkin at his studio and explored the place that produced his work. Hodgkin sadly died earlier this year, but his legacy as one of the powerhouses of British contemporary painting remains. [/i]
Read the current Living with Art supplement in the November issue of House & Garden - out now
Although it lies in the heart of Bloomsbury, Howard Hodgkin's London studio feels worlds away from the hubbub of urban life. Once an open stable yard behind Georgian street terraces, the space was roofed over to form a dairy in the nineteenth century and subsequently used for light engineering - the innovative wheelchairs designed by Lord Snowdon were assembled here.
Howard was urged to buy it some 25 years ago by Nick Serota, as it could not be more convenient, opening out directly from the back of his house. It is a large square expanse, flooded with light from the glass roof even on dull days. The walls are painted white and the floor is made of concrete. But it isn't chilly, not least because there is underfloor heating.
Assorted chairs are scattered about, one covered in the large flower pattern Howard created for Designers Guild. A sofa still has the fabric from the Four Rooms touring exhibition he devised for the Arts Council, which opened at Liberty in 1984. Tricia Guild has offered to cover other pieces looking rather the worse for wear, including a circular borne settee that could have come from the set of La Traviata.
Paint tins are filled with an extravagant array of clean brushes, although, he confesses, they serve 'more as a still life', which has impressed gallery directors in the past - 'I only use two or three.' His oil colours come from Michael Harding, as he has never believed in stinting on materials. Now 82, a knight and a Companion of Honour, with his work represented in all the major national and international art collections, he is still productive.
Screens lean against the walls to hide, he says, the paintings behind. Against them are pinned a vibrant sequence of BAT prints - short for bon à tirer, these are approved as the master version for Howard's printer, Andrew Smith, to follow when producing an edition for his Alan Cristea show, which was inspired by Andrew Marvell's The Garden. Abstract yet allusive, apparently spontaneous but in fact highly controlled, they convey feeling through colour, perhaps evoking the essence of places and people. They bring snatches of the seasons, the sun and India - where Howard works for part of the year - into the sombre-toned surroundings of central London.
