British artist David Hockney was left fuming after the Paris Metro banned a photo of him holding a cigarette from being used in a transit advertisement for his forthcoming retrospective. Lambasting the transport network’s decision, Hockney called the move “complete madness.”
“I am used to the interfering bossiness of people stopping people making their own choices but this is petty,” Hockney told the Independent. “Art has always been a path to free expression and this is a dismal [decision].”
Meant to promote the exhibition David Hockney 25, opening this week at the Fondation Louis Vuitton (FLV), the photo in question depicted Hockney seated with a crayon in one hand and a cigarette in the other, working on the same self-portrait that is also displayed in a larger format behind him. The artist told the Independent that the transit system’s lawyers informed him that they will not use the image because advertisements featuring tobacco or other nicotine products are not permitted.
The artist’s studio has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Beyond his paintings of poolsides and palm trees, Hockney is well-known for having a cigarette dangling from his lips or jutting out from between his fingers. He penned an opinion piece for the Guardian lambasting England’s ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces in 2007, explaining that his father was a fierce anti-smoking advocate who was outlived by both Hockney and his brother, who have smoked nearly their entire lives. He also lamented the death of pub culture and leveled the equally long lives of smokers Kurt Vonnegut and Denis Thatcher against the dangers and risks associated with tobacco products.
Ironically, after 55 years in Los Angeles, Hockney moved to France in 2019 to “be able to smoke and eat in a restaurant at the same time,” among other reasons, as tobacco restrictions maintain a stronghold in the United States.
“He’s 87. He has smoked, I don’t know, maybe 100 cigarettes a day and he still smokes,” Norman Rosenthal, co-curator of the FLV exhibition, said in an interview.
“His lungs are not in a good way, and he accepts that fact. For him, smoking is a symbol of freedom, to end bossiness. He doesn’t like being told on the packet some awful scare warning. He is very conscious of his physical fragility, but his mind is as clear as is his memory,” Rosenthal said.
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