No one can draw from life like David Hockney – but more than ever are trying

Growing numbers of hobbyists are attempting to emulate the artist and capture the truths of the human body at life drawing classes

David Hockney draws better than anyone else alive today. There may be other fine painters around, but on paper, with charcoal, ink pen or even crayons in hand, he is incomparable. So of course his retrospective of portraits on paper opening this week at the National Portrait Gallery is called Drawing from Life.

Hockney has always had a deceptively simple and absolutely captivating ability to look at his own face in the mirror, or at his “muse” Celia Birtwell, or at flowers in a vase, and set down what he sees, in clear, confident lines that vibrate with vitality.

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