Patrick Procktor and David Hockney, circa 1960 (photographer unknown)
Patrick Procktor and David Hockney first met in 1962 while still art students, Procktor at the Slade School of Art and Hockney at the Royal College of Art. As Procktor recalled:
"We both had a zest and an appetite for the West End theatre, movies and every form of restaurant. This was years before restaurants and the restaurant business came into my life in the form of Odin’s."
Together, they were an integral part of the artists, designers and musicians who defined London’s cultural scene in the 1960s and 70s. In 1964, they were both included in Bryan Robertson's groundbreaking Whitechapel gallery exhibition, The New Generation, representing the work of twelve young artists also featuring Patrick Caulfield, John Hoyland and Bridget Riley.
It was in the 1960s that Procktor first met Peter Langan, founder of Langan's Brasserie in Mayfair in 1973 - the legendary restaurant frequented by celebrities including Mick Jagger, Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Elizabeth Taylor and Mohammed Ali. Prior to this, Langan ran Odin's in Marylebone, around the corner from Procktor's flat in Manchester Street. The larger-than-life Langan had a passion for art and the walls became filled with artworks that gave both Odin's and later Langan's Brasserie their celebrated atmospheres. Procktor and Hockney were regulars, with Langan's wife Susan recalling how Procktor and Hockney: 'gave it a tremendous cachet of an extraordinarily valuable sort, which gave the whole business a particular edge compared to the other businesses around' (Ian Massey, Patrick Procktor: Art and Life, Unicorn Press 2010, p.146). Langan commissioned both Procktor and Hockney to produce menu designs for Odin's and Langan's Brasserie, with many of their own pieces adorning the walls, often exchanged for food, alongside works by their contemporaries.
When Langan opened Langan's Brasserie, Michael Caine was his business partner and brought on Richard Shepherd, a Michelin starred chef. A wonderful drawing of the three of them by Hockney in 1973 was sold at Sotheby's (view online). After Langan’s death in 1988, Shepherd took over the running of the business. He co-founded the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and was awarded a CBE for services to the catering industry in 2000. The following works come from the Estate of Richard Shepherd, many recalling the Langan history and artistic connections of the time. In particular, they re-focus the limelight on Patrick Procktor - his central place within London's avant-garde in the 1960s and 70s and his unique talent, seen across a variety of paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints.