Patrick Procktor Manchester St London 1982

 

 

PP wtmrk

 

This was my first picture of Patrick taken in 1982 on the roof terrace of his house in Manchester St (which he burnt down 20 years later). I saw one of his quirky watercolour portraits in Vogue and the article linked him to Hockney. It captivated me and I decided to photograph him. Getting his phone number from the phone book I called, I think I had to call him twice… as he always said you have to ask a woman twice – he was so old fashioned- anyway when I went to see him he opened the door, standing 6’7 inches tall with a paintbrush in one hand and a cigarette in the other, he looked down at me and proclaimed in his posh voice, ‘Oh, my St John”!
It turned out he was painting a commission for Chichester Cathedral of the St John Baptist stories but was having a painters block as he couldn’t find a suitable model.

We became lifelong friends until his death in 2003. He was 25 years my senior but we shared a sense of camp humour and I felt we were in the mould of Ken Williams and Joe Orton, Wilde and Robbie Ross, Julian and Sandy. I owe him so much. He could be utterly cruel, which was due to his alcoholism, which got much worse but we lived like dilettante’s, receiving famous people, the first G&T at noon, smoking joints and gossiping about the art world. It was heaven.
I’ve got a funny letter from David Litchfield the editor of Ritz at the time (early 80’s) in response to a letter I’d sent – at Patrick’s urging- asking for a fee for an interview we did for the magazine. It’s hysterical and shows how naïve I was and how mischievous Patrick was – he totally set me up.

I was at art college when I took this and he bought a print, which hung on the wall at Manchester St but it was destroyed in the fire.
I have many stories and pictures of Paddy, too many to write here but below is a short story of the first meeting, which was published in Square Peg magazine. Again I sound quite ridiculous but it’s funny. See Ian Massey’s book Art & Life for his full story.

PP story



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