British Vogue features David Hockney painting on August cover to signal ‘reset’ with nature

Edward Enninful says latest issue is ‘beautiful and poignant’

British Vogue has unveiled a painting by David Hockney as the first of numerous special landscape images to feature on the cover of its August 2020 issue.

In the first project of its kind for British Vogue, Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful has commissioned 14 special covers for the magazine’s latest issue, which is titled “Reset”.

The publication has enlisted some of the UK’s greatest artists and photographers to deliver striking images of local landscapes they hold dear in a series that explores the theme of restoring our relationship with nature post-lockdown.

The debut cover features a vibrant landscape oil painting of golden wheat fields by Hockney, titled “Wheat Field Near Fridaythorpe”, which was first released as part of his celebrated collection of East Yorkshire landscapes in 2006.

In addition to Hockney’s image, a number of other creatives have been enlisted by British Vogue to share their own depictions of nature including Nadine Ijewere, Tim Walker, Nick Knight, Lubaina Himid, Mert Alas, David Sims, Marcus Piggott, Jamie Hawkesworth, Juergen Teller, Alasdair McLellan, Martin Parr, David Bailey and Craig McDean.

The original prints will be auctioned off in aid of Covid-19 relief charities later this year.

“British Vogue’s August Issue, Reset, and the 20-page story ‘All Across the Land’, is not only beautiful and poignant, but also highlights that at the core of everything is our planet,” said Enninful.

David Hockney's painting "Wheat field near Fridaythorpe, EastYorkshire" is the first landscape to feature on the magazine's August cover (British Vogue)

“Its maintenance enjoyed renewed focus as human activity slowed down in late spring, from the indelible images of clear canals in Venice to an absence of smog over Los Angeles. As the world rushes to find its feet again, we all need to be more mindful of the toll our previous pace of living took on nature.”

In an accompanying essay for the August cover story, writer and naturalist Helen Macdonald discusses how the coronavirus pandemic has forced people to rethink their relationship with the natural world.

Fashion photographer Tim Walker has submitted this still life shot for the new issue (British Vogue)

“The familiar patterns of our lives have been broken, the future is unknowable, and all of us are searching for signs and wonders, for reassurance, for hope, for things that make sense to us when everything seems desolate. We are beginning to view nature through new eyes,” she writes.

“Just as the pandemic has led us to discover new ways of working and living, in its continuing darkness we are learning to reforge our relationship with nature, quietly turning it into a thing of fierce and enduring tenderness.”

Nadine Ijewere has contributed this image of the Isle of Skye to British Vogue's latest issue (British Vogue)

Read the full feature in the August issue of British Vogue, available via digital download and on newsstands Friday 3 July.