British officials are trying to keep a major painting by the late London-born artist Howard Hodgkin from leaving the UK.
Last week, the country’s Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) placed an export ban on Mrs Acton in Delhi (1967–71), giving a British museum or gallery the chance to buy it instead. The move comes after the work sold at Bonhams in London last October for £1.7 million (around $2.3 million), setting a new auction record for Hodgkin.
Hodgkin began the painting just three years after his first trip to India, a place that captivated him from childhood through to the end of his life. According to officials, the work captures a key moment in the artist’s development, showing the shift from his early Pop art influences toward the emotionally charged abstraction that would later define his style.
Mrs Acton in Delhi depicts the wife of British Council representative John Stewart Acton, lounging on a balcony overlooking the Indian capital. It is considered one of the standout works in Hodgkin’s career, and it also reflects the cultural ties between Britain and India after Indian independence.
The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest determined that the paintings meets two of the three so-called Waverley criteria used to identify artworks as national treasures. This is due to its aesthetic importance and significance for the study of modern British painting.
“It cries out to be kept for the nation,” committee member Mark Hallett said in a statement.
Before last fall’s sale, Mrs Acton in Delhi had only changed hands twice: first from Kasmin Gallery to the J. Walter Thompson Collection, and later to the consignor who recently sold it at Bonhams. The house hasn’t said where the current owner is based. At some point, though, the buyer applied for an export license, prompting the government to step in and delay the process while it looks for a UK institution willing to match the £1.7 million price.
The current export deferral runs until June 4. After that, the owner will have 15 days to consider any offers that come in at the recommended price. A spokesperson for the DCMS said they couldn’t confirm whether any buyers have stepped forward yet. If a museum does express serious interest, a second deferral period could follow, giving it another four months to raise the funds. Interested parties are being directed to contact the reviewing committee.
In a similar case, Barbara Hepworth’s Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red (1943) was banned from being exported by the DCMS last year after it sold for it sold for £3.5 million ($4.7 million) at Christie’s London. The Hepworth Wakefield museum, together with Art Fund, then successfully raised the £3.8 million ($5.1 million) needed to acquire the work and keep it on British soil.
