Last week, Westminster Abbey commemorated the 65th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s reign with a dedication ceremony of “The Queen’s Window,” created by British pop art icon David Hockney. Measuring 28 feet by 12 feet, “The Queen’s Window” represents what the New York Times described as “a hawthorn, a thorny floral shrub, blooming in a joyous profusion of reds, blues, greens and yellows.”
In a video interview posted by the Abbey, Hockney said of the newly revealed window, “It’s celebratory.” He revealed that he crafted the trees to look as though “Champagne had been poured over bushes.”
What is remarkable is that Hockney reworked the design for the Abbey window from an earlier painting using a iPad, which has become one of his favorite tools for creating art in recent years. At age 81, he’s been known to use new technology quite extensively – such as cameras, photo copiers and fax machines – throughout his remarkable and colorful career. It has liberated Hockney as an artist and set him apart from others who rely solely on the use of traditional materials.
“For many years, I pondered how we should celebrate The Queen’s reign in the Abbey,” the Very Rev. Dr. John Hall, dean of the church, said, during the dedication of “The Queen’s Window” on Oct. 2, inside London’s Westminster Abbey. “A statue seemed wrong, though there are many from earlier centuries. We already have a portrait of Her Majesty in the Diamond Jubilee Galleries. A stained glass window seemed the obvious thing, and a great window was available, a double lancet surmounted by a circular oculus containing sexfoil tracery, on the west side of the North Transept, the only window there without stained glass.”
Hockney, whom I learned had never before designed stained glass, came to see the window and the next day sent Hall a draft design. The dean responded to Hockney in kind: “As I wished not herald or representational, but a country scene to honor someone we know to be a lover of the countryside, a design evocative of his work in East Yorkshire.”
As the “most celebrated living artist,” in the words of Hall, Hockney seemed a natural fit for creating “The Queen’s Window.” After all, his fame coincided with the queen’s reign. The dean has called Hockney’s work, “absolutely vibrant.” He was quoted by the New York Times as saying: “It’s very legible, so in that sense it’s very accessible, and I think people will be very excited by it.”
Hockney collaborated on “The Queen’s Window” with stained glass experts at Barley Studio in northern England. He’s happy with the final outcome.
Said Hockney: “I think it’s looking marvelous!”
Photograph: Courtesy of Google Images.
Videos: Courtesy of Westminster Abbey.
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