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A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney
David Hockney’s exuberant work is widely loved and widely praised, but he is also an incisive and original thinker on art. Based on a series of conversations between Hockney and the art critic Martin Gayford, this book distills the essence of the artist’s lifelong meditations on the problems and paradoxes of representing a three-dimensional world on a flat surface.
How does drawing make one “see things clearer and clearer and clearer still”? What significance do differing media, from a Lascaux cave wall to an iPad, have for the images we see? What is the relationship between the images we make and the reality around us? And how can we fully enjoy the pleasures of just looking—at trees, or faces, or sunrises?
These conversations are punctuated by wise and witty observations by both artist and interviewer on many other artists—Vermeer, Tiepolo, Caravaggio, Van Gogh, and Monet among them—and enlivened by shrewd insights into the contrasting social and physical landscapes of California, where Hockney spent so many years, and East Yorkshire, his birthplace, to which he has now returned.
How does drawing make one “see things clearer and clearer and clearer still”? What significance do differing media, from a Lascaux cave wall to an iPad, have for the images we see? What is the relationship between the images we make and the reality around us? And how can we fully enjoy the pleasures of just looking—at trees, or faces, or sunrises?
These conversations are punctuated by wise and witty observations by both artist and interviewer on many other artists—Vermeer, Tiepolo, Caravaggio, Van Gogh, and Monet among them—and enlivened by shrewd insights into the contrasting social and physical landscapes of California, where Hockney spent so many years, and East Yorkshire, his birthplace, to which he has now returned.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published October 24, 2011
149 people are currently reading
3728 people want to read
About the author
Martin Gayford
56 books137 followersMartin Gayford is an art critic and art historian. He studied philosophy at the University of Cambridge, and art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London. Over three decades, he has written prolifically about art and music in a series of major biographies, as well as contributing regularly to newspapers, magazines and exhibition catalogues. In parallel with his career as an art historian, he was art critic of The Spectator magazine and The Sunday Telegraph newspaper before becoming Chief Art Critic for the international television network, Bloomberg News. He has been a regular contributor to the British journal of art criticism, Modern Painters.
His books include a study of Van Gogh and Gauguin in Arles, The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles (Little Brown, 2006), which was published in Britain and the USA to critical acclaim, and has been translated, to date, into five languages; Constable in Love: Love, Landscape, Money and the Making of a Great Painter (Penguin, 2009), a study of John Constable’s romance with Maria Bicknell and their lives between 1809 and 1816; and A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney (Thames and Hudson, 2011).
His books include a study of Van Gogh and Gauguin in Arles, The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles (Little Brown, 2006), which was published in Britain and the USA to critical acclaim, and has been translated, to date, into five languages; Constable in Love: Love, Landscape, Money and the Making of a Great Painter (Penguin, 2009), a study of John Constable’s romance with Maria Bicknell and their lives between 1809 and 1816; and A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney (Thames and Hudson, 2011).
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July 24, 2019DNF at 52%.
Me, with no knowledge or interest in art, entirely out of touch with painters and art history: reads this book just because Namjoon also did.
Me, with no knowledge or interest in art, entirely out of touch with painters and art history: reads this book just because Namjoon also did.
December 19, 2019
So this is the infamous book Namjoon read and of course I grew interested in it as well. One of the best reads of this year for sure.
I would like to disagree that someone without an intense background in art wouldn't get much out of this book - you would, because it isn't just about art. It is about how we view the world around us, how things have developed, how artists eyes develop and how artist adapt to new technology just like we do.
Fascinating read. Hockney is a fascinating man.
I would like to disagree that someone without an intense background in art wouldn't get much out of this book - you would, because it isn't just about art. It is about how we view the world around us, how things have developed, how artists eyes develop and how artist adapt to new technology just like we do.
Fascinating read. Hockney is a fascinating man.
January 24, 2022
Most of this book in written in a Q&A style which I've never experienced before. It works quite well except when the author wanders off into discussing another aspect of Hockney's work and you realize eventually it's not a long question. It got a bit over technical for me at times e.g. the chapter on perspectives was heavy and also the several pages explaining the use of different lenses were boggling.
I learned a lot about Hockney - artist, photographer, film maker, muralist, techno geek, music lover and his knowledge about many artists and their styles. The sections I really appreciated were his echoes of the views of Da Vinci and Vasari on acquiring basic skills - his insistence that artists look hard and long at nature and his disappointment that the skill of drawing was no longer taught at art schools.
Shawn Callon, author of The Diplomatic Spy, wrote this review
I learned a lot about Hockney - artist, photographer, film maker, muralist, techno geek, music lover and his knowledge about many artists and their styles. The sections I really appreciated were his echoes of the views of Da Vinci and Vasari on acquiring basic skills - his insistence that artists look hard and long at nature and his disappointment that the skill of drawing was no longer taught at art schools.
Shawn Callon, author of The Diplomatic Spy, wrote this review
October 12, 2012
This is an excellent book for a stumbling painter, artist, or art viewer. Hockney has been working hard for 50 years--and constantly explores new mediums and ways to create, while firmly believing in plein aire, drawing, and the landscape--all out of favor during the last half-century. He delivers Firmness, Commodity and Delight, as Palladio said of good architecture. David Hockney has a background in classical art. He can build on his understanding of drawing and seeing to explain how perspective, for instance, was painted by Wang Hui, or by Caravaggio, or Picasso. He mentions "photography" was used even in the 1700s to create an image. He says all painting is a matter of seeing and building layers. He describes his methods for painting the 144 ft. canvases for his 2012 exhibit at the Royal Gallery of Art. He knows what we all suspected--that abstract art can't hold the audience. And he shows why he likes drawing on the iPad so much. He believes drawing makes you study every blade of grass until your eyes get tired. He just delights in all nature, especially light, whether it is found bouncing off the water in LA swimming pools or hitting leaves at dawn in Bridlington, creating a riot of 50 different greens.
Hockney has been wildly successful by most measures in the art world--and it is good to hear him in conversation, even if only through a book. He doesn't seem to critique his work, he just believes in it--and it is gorgeous. And it doesn't matter whether he is in L.A. or his small town in Yorkshire on the North Sea coast. He isolates himself, careens on with gusto, and the world still stays in contact with all he does.
Hockney has been wildly successful by most measures in the art world--and it is good to hear him in conversation, even if only through a book. He doesn't seem to critique his work, he just believes in it--and it is gorgeous. And it doesn't matter whether he is in L.A. or his small town in Yorkshire on the North Sea coast. He isolates himself, careens on with gusto, and the world still stays in contact with all he does.
April 20, 2022
من قصد خواندن این کتاب را نداشتم. میخواستم فقط ورق بزنم. اما از نگاههای گذرا فهمیدم چقدر این آدم جالب و شنیدنیست. شیوهٔ نگاهش به محیط اطرافش و توجه عمیقش به جزئیات طبیعت به آدم یادآوری میکرد که بهراحتی از این لذت رایگان دست نکشد: تماشاکردن
August 16, 2025
wspaniała książka w formie rozmów z hockneyem- forma jest bardzo przyjemna, lekko się czyta. książka jest przepełniona wiedzą o dziełach artysty jak i o sztuce ogólnie. pięknie wydana pozycja z reprodukcjami obrazów w świetnej jakości!!
May 5, 2019
I came to this having read Martin Gayford’s book about his experience in sitting as a model for Lucian Freud. This, like that, is a terrific book. He does actually sit for Hockney at one stage, but Hockney is a much quicker painter than Freud, so the sitting is a minor episode and not the central focus.
In the main, the book is a series of conversations - or distillations/highlights packages of conversations - between author and subject over a number of years. There’s lots of nice, gossipy stuff about Hockney’s life, his various ways of living in the various places he has lived etc. If, like me, you like reading about the lives and habits and preferences and idiosyncrasies of artists and writers, there’s plenty for you here.
But the guts of the book is Hockney’s discussion of what these days is called his “ art practice” - his views and theories on light, the seasons, on working materials and methods, on landscapes and portraiture, on the working methods of other artists, on his own tastes in art, and so on and so forth.
Hockney obviously has great instincts as an artist and is, of course, a superlative artist in his own right. But he also has well developed, well though out, closely argued theories and opinions on art, grounded in a deep knowledge of art history, which are obviously the product of a very sharp and original mind. It’s a real pleasure to read along with him thinking out loud. He’s obviously a highly intelligent man, in addition to being a hugely gifted artist.
The book is very generously illustrated. There’s plenty of Hockney’s own work, which would be worth the price of the book without the text. It is gorgeous. Examples run from his early pop-arty work as an up-and-comer through to his very recent still lives composed on an iPad, and all points between. Also, in cases where Hockney uses a work by another artist to illustrate a point, that work is included.
As always with these T&H books, the book is a lovely object in itself. It has a lovely weight and heft, is a pleasure to hold, the layout is clear and unfussy, the illustrations are sharp, the paper stock that has been used has a lovely tactility.
Martin Gayford is highly knowledgeable in his own right, a very solid pro of an art writer, and the style is clear, lucid and reader friendly. He has walked the fine line between intelligibility for the average educated reader and interest for the specialist exceedingly well. If you know nothing about Hockney (or art) at all, the book will make perfect sense to you and be of great interest as a working portrait of a great artist. If your knowledge of art is more highly cultivated, Hockney’s technical talk will be most interesting.
Great stuff.
In the main, the book is a series of conversations - or distillations/highlights packages of conversations - between author and subject over a number of years. There’s lots of nice, gossipy stuff about Hockney’s life, his various ways of living in the various places he has lived etc. If, like me, you like reading about the lives and habits and preferences and idiosyncrasies of artists and writers, there’s plenty for you here.
But the guts of the book is Hockney’s discussion of what these days is called his “ art practice” - his views and theories on light, the seasons, on working materials and methods, on landscapes and portraiture, on the working methods of other artists, on his own tastes in art, and so on and so forth.
Hockney obviously has great instincts as an artist and is, of course, a superlative artist in his own right. But he also has well developed, well though out, closely argued theories and opinions on art, grounded in a deep knowledge of art history, which are obviously the product of a very sharp and original mind. It’s a real pleasure to read along with him thinking out loud. He’s obviously a highly intelligent man, in addition to being a hugely gifted artist.
The book is very generously illustrated. There’s plenty of Hockney’s own work, which would be worth the price of the book without the text. It is gorgeous. Examples run from his early pop-arty work as an up-and-comer through to his very recent still lives composed on an iPad, and all points between. Also, in cases where Hockney uses a work by another artist to illustrate a point, that work is included.
As always with these T&H books, the book is a lovely object in itself. It has a lovely weight and heft, is a pleasure to hold, the layout is clear and unfussy, the illustrations are sharp, the paper stock that has been used has a lovely tactility.
Martin Gayford is highly knowledgeable in his own right, a very solid pro of an art writer, and the style is clear, lucid and reader friendly. He has walked the fine line between intelligibility for the average educated reader and interest for the specialist exceedingly well. If you know nothing about Hockney (or art) at all, the book will make perfect sense to you and be of great interest as a working portrait of a great artist. If your knowledge of art is more highly cultivated, Hockney’s technical talk will be most interesting.
Great stuff.
July 19, 2021
"Fuck me Picasso and Matisse made the world look incredibly exciting; photography makes it look very, very dull" - David Hockney
David Hockney is one of the people who make the world look exciting and fresh. This book is a series of conversations between him and Martin G on art, light, fragments from David's past and his favourite artists.
My absolutely favourite parts was reading about his love of looking. Intensly, deeply looking at things. And about feeling space. Feeling spaces is something I am familiar with personally and it was fascinating to read David's thoughts on that.
My favourite chapters:
- Seeing more clearly
- Drawing on the phone and computer
- Painting from memory
- Photography and drawing
- Caravaggios camera
Quotes I loved:
"I would never have expected to be painting with such ambition at this age. I seem to have more energy than I had a decade ago when I was sixty. The Chinese are very good on the subject of art. Another saying of theirs I very much like its that painting is an old man's art, meaning that the experience of life and painting and looking at the world accumulates as you get older."
"I was driving someone up here and I asked them what colour was the road. They didn't answer. Ten minutes later, I asked the same question, and they saw it was different. Later he said, I'd never thought what colour the road was." Frankly, unless you're asked the question, it's just road colour. You have to look and ask questions like that about what you are seeing all the time. Drawing makes you see things clearer."
This book sharpens your sight, wakes you up to the world around you the small details and the bigger space that surrounds you. I loved every moment of reading it.
David Hockney is one of the people who make the world look exciting and fresh. This book is a series of conversations between him and Martin G on art, light, fragments from David's past and his favourite artists.
My absolutely favourite parts was reading about his love of looking. Intensly, deeply looking at things. And about feeling space. Feeling spaces is something I am familiar with personally and it was fascinating to read David's thoughts on that.
My favourite chapters:
- Seeing more clearly
- Drawing on the phone and computer
- Painting from memory
- Photography and drawing
- Caravaggios camera
Quotes I loved:
"I would never have expected to be painting with such ambition at this age. I seem to have more energy than I had a decade ago when I was sixty. The Chinese are very good on the subject of art. Another saying of theirs I very much like its that painting is an old man's art, meaning that the experience of life and painting and looking at the world accumulates as you get older."
"I was driving someone up here and I asked them what colour was the road. They didn't answer. Ten minutes later, I asked the same question, and they saw it was different. Later he said, I'd never thought what colour the road was." Frankly, unless you're asked the question, it's just road colour. You have to look and ask questions like that about what you are seeing all the time. Drawing makes you see things clearer."
This book sharpens your sight, wakes you up to the world around you the small details and the bigger space that surrounds you. I loved every moment of reading it.
June 3, 2024
«ما با حافظه میبینیم. حافظهی من با شما فرق دارد؛ برای همین اگر هر دو یک جا بایستیم، چیز کاملا یکسانی نمیبینیم. اینکه قبلا جایی بوده باشی و چقدر آنجا را بشناسی بر شما تاثیر خواهد داشت.»
به نظرم یکی از باکیفیتترین کتابایی بود که دربارهی نقاشها خوندم، هم به زندگی شخصی و جهانبینی هنرمند و هم به زندگی هنری و آثارش پرداخته شده بود. بیشتر متن کتاب در قالب سوال و جواب بود و ترجمهی روون و خوبی داشت.
چه از طرفدارای هاکنی باشید چه نباشید، از عجیب زیبا بودنِ عطش یادگیریش که توی این کتاب مفصل بیان شده، به وجد میاید :))
به نظرم یکی از باکیفیتترین کتابایی بود که دربارهی نقاشها خوندم، هم به زندگی شخصی و جهانبینی هنرمند و هم به زندگی هنری و آثارش پرداخته شده بود. بیشتر متن کتاب در قالب سوال و جواب بود و ترجمهی روون و خوبی داشت.
چه از طرفدارای هاکنی باشید چه نباشید، از عجیب زیبا بودنِ عطش یادگیریش که توی این کتاب مفصل بیان شده، به وجد میاید :))
January 21, 2024
I will never be an artist, maybe a doodler but thats about it. But I do believe that reading about an artist and their visions, will always make your mind open up to the possibilities and views the world is seldom aware of.
July 24, 2020
کتابی در ستایش دیدن.
" هاکنی از کودکی طراحی میکرد چون به قول خودش نسبت به بقیه علاقهی بیشتری به
نگاه کردن داشت. دلش میخواست طراحی کند چون شیفتهی جهان بصری بود. هنوز
هم هست.وقتی ناچار باشد شی یا منظره اش فرقی ندارد. نگاه کردن و کشیدن هر چیزی
میتواند جذاب باشد. مثلن یک پا و یک دمپایی."
" هاکنی از کودکی طراحی میکرد چون به قول خودش نسبت به بقیه علاقهی بیشتری به
نگاه کردن داشت. دلش میخواست طراحی کند چون شیفتهی جهان بصری بود. هنوز
هم هست.وقتی ناچار باشد شی یا منظره اش فرقی ندارد. نگاه کردن و کشیدن هر چیزی
میتواند جذاب باشد. مثلن یک پا و یک دمپایی."
April 24, 2021
کتاب گفت و گویی طولانی در طول چندسال و درزمان پیری دیوید هاکنیه.
گاهی جملهها بی ربط میشن و هی مجبوری برگردی بخونی تا اتصال هرخط به خط قبلی رو پیدا کنی. اما دیدن دنیایی که هاکنی با این ظرافت به آن نگاه میکنه بسیار جذاب و لذتبخشه.
در جایی از کتاب دیوید هاکنی شروع به نقاشی با آیفون می کنه، گل هایی میکشه و هرروز برای دوستانش میفرسته. معتقده اینجوری دوستاش هرروز صبح گل تازه دارند. گلهایی که پژمرده نمیشوند.
گاهی جملهها بی ربط میشن و هی مجبوری برگردی بخونی تا اتصال هرخط به خط قبلی رو پیدا کنی. اما دیدن دنیایی که هاکنی با این ظرافت به آن نگاه میکنه بسیار جذاب و لذتبخشه.
در جایی از کتاب دیوید هاکنی شروع به نقاشی با آیفون می کنه، گل هایی میکشه و هرروز برای دوستانش میفرسته. معتقده اینجوری دوستاش هرروز صبح گل تازه دارند. گلهایی که پژمرده نمیشوند.
March 1, 2012
If you are an artist or an art lover, you really ought to read this book. I can't wait to read it again. Hockney's insights on topics like drawing, light and seeing have me reeling with the feeling of being drunk on words about art.
January 24, 2021
I have enjoyed this book immensely, the conversation between Mr. Hockney and the author keeps you going and is fitted with various art pieces from Hockney himself or the source of inspiration or topic depending on the chapter.
At times I found it to be but dragged that's why I took one star off. Overal it's a book that serves well as retrospective over David Hockneys portfolio but also an insight into his opinion regarding painting versus photography and his approach to it. Would recommend to any art fans, a must for Hockney fans.
A quote that caught my attention:
"There is a Chinese saying: painting is an old man's art, meaning that the experience of life and painting and looking at the world accumulates as you get older."
At times I found it to be but dragged that's why I took one star off. Overal it's a book that serves well as retrospective over David Hockneys portfolio but also an insight into his opinion regarding painting versus photography and his approach to it. Would recommend to any art fans, a must for Hockney fans.
A quote that caught my attention:
"There is a Chinese saying: painting is an old man's art, meaning that the experience of life and painting and looking at the world accumulates as you get older."
August 11, 2024
A selection of Gayford's meetings and conversations with Hockney during the time he was preparing his paintings of the Yorkshire Wolds for a huge exhibition at The Royal Academy. Like Spring Cannot Be Cancelled, this is chatty, fascinating and well put together with a fantastic selection of Hockney's works reproduced in colour and black and white along with other works that he refers to and draws inspiration from.
November 11, 2023
Brilliant book!! Thanks David, now i am curious how Picasso’s drawings would look like on iPad too.
February 26, 2023
The conversations, the anecdotes, they all fit well for an interesting discourse on art. My admiration for Hockney’s work only grows more, as I learned how intensely he works day in day out. It’s a good book to have in your collection if you like David Hockney’s work, and also want to hear his more candid thoughts on creativity and life.
May 25, 2024
I <3 the Hockney + Gayford book formats
February 5, 2017
Martin Gayford's new book about David Hockney is not a biography, but rather a series of on-going conversations Gayford had with Hockney over a ten or so year period in many locations. Most were at Hockney's house in a secluded area in East Yorkshire, where he moved after having lived in Los Angeles for many years. The conversations, which make up the basis of the book, give full rein to Hockney's endless interest in almost every kind of creative endeavor.
David Hockney is 74 years old and has been immersed in creativity of one sort or another since childhood. He's dabbled in photography, computer graphics, stage design, and many other forms in addition to his well-known paintings. He seems to be constantly asking questions about how and why both living things and art - in all its forms - come to life. The influences of past artists and designers on his work is readily acknowledged by Hockney. He's had a prodigious creative output in the past 55 years and until I read Gayford's book, I never realised how pervasive Hockney's influence has been on current artists. He seems to be an on-going link from past creativity to current and future creativity.
Author Martin Gayford know what questions to ask David Hockney to get the best and most interesting answers. He's a long-time art critic in London and knows artists and their foibles and seems to work with those foibles to make fascinating articles and books. I've read his recent book on Lucien Freud, which was every bit as well-written as this one on David Hockney. For anyone wanting to know more about David Hockney, his genius and the work that flows from that genius, this is a good book to read. Gayford includes examples of most of the artwork being discussed - that work by Hockney as well as other artists - as well as a good timeline of Hockney's life. Reading this book is a wonderful experience.
David Hockney is 74 years old and has been immersed in creativity of one sort or another since childhood. He's dabbled in photography, computer graphics, stage design, and many other forms in addition to his well-known paintings. He seems to be constantly asking questions about how and why both living things and art - in all its forms - come to life. The influences of past artists and designers on his work is readily acknowledged by Hockney. He's had a prodigious creative output in the past 55 years and until I read Gayford's book, I never realised how pervasive Hockney's influence has been on current artists. He seems to be an on-going link from past creativity to current and future creativity.
Author Martin Gayford know what questions to ask David Hockney to get the best and most interesting answers. He's a long-time art critic in London and knows artists and their foibles and seems to work with those foibles to make fascinating articles and books. I've read his recent book on Lucien Freud, which was every bit as well-written as this one on David Hockney. For anyone wanting to know more about David Hockney, his genius and the work that flows from that genius, this is a good book to read. Gayford includes examples of most of the artwork being discussed - that work by Hockney as well as other artists - as well as a good timeline of Hockney's life. Reading this book is a wonderful experience.
July 24, 2012
I have more to say than usual about this book, so I'll start by saying that even though I'm sure I drank this up because I'm an artist, I think others could enjoy it too. The concepts that are discussed are very accessible. So if you'd like learning about art but get turned off by the elitist discussion that often surrounds it, you won't find that here.
Reading this felt so exhilarating! A great deal of the book is Hockney describing his approach to landscape painting, and really delving into what he sees and feels when he looks out at a landscape. I felt like yelling "Yes! Yes! That's it exactly!" My paintings are totally different from his, but I felt so in tune with his passion, and his attitude. If someone wanted to know more about my work I could just plagiarize this book. ...Not that I would! But as an artist its just so exciting to feel that someone else thinks the way you do - if I met him he might understand me! Wow!
Ok, so aside from the personal connection to Hockney's landscape work there was plenty, plenty more of interest - his investigation into Caravaggio's work, his discussion of the impact of photography throughout history, his embrace of new technology, his connection between art and music. Love.
Reading this felt so exhilarating! A great deal of the book is Hockney describing his approach to landscape painting, and really delving into what he sees and feels when he looks out at a landscape. I felt like yelling "Yes! Yes! That's it exactly!" My paintings are totally different from his, but I felt so in tune with his passion, and his attitude. If someone wanted to know more about my work I could just plagiarize this book. ...Not that I would! But as an artist its just so exciting to feel that someone else thinks the way you do - if I met him he might understand me! Wow!
Ok, so aside from the personal connection to Hockney's landscape work there was plenty, plenty more of interest - his investigation into Caravaggio's work, his discussion of the impact of photography throughout history, his embrace of new technology, his connection between art and music. Love.
December 12, 2023
من طرفدار نقاشیهای زیادی از هاکنی نبودم. این همهی حسی بود که در گذشته به دیوید هاکنی داشتم. ولی نقاشیکردن چیزای زیادی رو توی من عوض کرد. حتی نحوه حرفزدن با آدمارو. نقاشی شد تراپی هرروزه و عمیق من و از اون به بعد وقتی زندگی هنرمندی رو میخونم، خالقی رو که فرقی نمیکنه محصولش موزیک باشه، تصویر یا فیلم و نقاشی، انگار با کمال پررویی در گفتن این جمله، زندگی همکلاسیامو دنبال میکنم. انگار یکی یه سفر عجیب بره هند و تا آخر عمرش سفرنامههای هند بقیه رو بخونه حتما، دیگه تجربهی هرکی که یه سفر بره هند براش مهمه. این مربوط به این نیست که کدومیک از اینها از دیگری بزرگتره یا من خودم رو قد اونا میدونم که نمیدونم، راجع به اینه که مواجهه و درگیری هرروزه با یک فعالیت به اصطلاح هنری (چون من میگم غریزی همهمون داشتیمش چه نیازیه روش اسم بذاریم اصن؟) دیدت رو به اون زندگینامهی توی دستت عوض میکنه. به اون احوالات، پاسخها، تصمیمات یه جور دیگه نگاه میکنی. خوندن این گفتگو برای هرکی که تو این شرایطه قطعاً لذتبخشه.
و الان با دیدن کارای بیشتر و مستندش، عاشق کارها و قصهی زندگیشم.
و الان با دیدن کارای بیشتر و مستندش، عاشق کارها و قصهی زندگیشم.
February 9, 2021
first, bought this book because of namjoon. second, i didn’t realize one of my favorite artworks was created by david hockney lmao. third, got the chance to visit his exhibition in seoul. that’s why i decided to finish the book.
the first half is very interesting (for an art noob like me), but the second half got a bit boring (maybe bc it got to the part of modern painting hmm). as it’s quite expensive, if you’re not interested in art or painting, just borrow it from your local library. another plus point... pretty book for your bedside table though!
the first half is very interesting (for an art noob like me), but the second half got a bit boring (maybe bc it got to the part of modern painting hmm). as it’s quite expensive, if you’re not interested in art or painting, just borrow it from your local library. another plus point... pretty book for your bedside table though!
November 29, 2021
گفتوگو با هاکنی این حس رو برای من ایجاد کرد که در تمام طول کتاب بیپرده با او درحال معاشرتم و یادگیری.
و هر لحظه از شور و انرژی او برای تجربهکردن، کشفکردن و یافتن انگشت به دهان. که چطور یک آدم از جوانی تا دهه هشتم زندگیاش اینچنین بیوققه درحال حرکت است؟ که نکند سوختی اتمی در او جریان دارد؟
بماند که همزمان به عطش عجیب او برای تجربیات جدید و نترسیدن از آزمون و خطا غبطه میخوردم.
نوع زندگی هاکنی و نگاه او به هنر باعث شد تا تأملی کنم و از خودم بپرسم که آیا من هم تا این حد شیفته مسیر پیشرو هستم؟
و هر لحظه از شور و انرژی او برای تجربهکردن، کشفکردن و یافتن انگشت به دهان. که چطور یک آدم از جوانی تا دهه هشتم زندگیاش اینچنین بیوققه درحال حرکت است؟ که نکند سوختی اتمی در او جریان دارد؟
بماند که همزمان به عطش عجیب او برای تجربیات جدید و نترسیدن از آزمون و خطا غبطه میخوردم.
نوع زندگی هاکنی و نگاه او به هنر باعث شد تا تأملی کنم و از خودم بپرسم که آیا من هم تا این حد شیفته مسیر پیشرو هستم؟
April 9, 2017
I loved this book. I bought it after going to a Hockney exhibition and I felt it really helped me get closer to the artist and understand what painting (and seeing in fact) mean to him. It is easy to read, but made me think about painting in a new way. Seeing is a fascinating thing that we rather take for granted (or at least I do)!
September 8, 2017
“I think I’m greedy, but I’m not greedy for money – I think that can be a burden – I’m greedy for an exciting life. I want it to be exciting all the time, and I get it, actually. On the other hand, I can find excitement, I admit, in raindrops falling on a puddle and a lot of people wouldn’t. I intend to have it exciting until the day I fall over.”
September 23, 2011
David Hockney is a deep thinker and an extremely interesting man. I was surprised to learn the extent of his interests, his reading and his extensive engagement with art history. He would a fascinating man to spend some time with. I am really looking forward to his exhibition at the RA next year.
December 5, 2022
One of the most insightful books - interviews - I have ever read between an artist I knew relatively little about (outside of his extensive career and beautiful work) and a renowned art critic.
I read this from Namjoon's recommendations and now understand why he loves this book. At 85 years of age, David Hockney is still full of vitality and innovation that persists through his artwork and his understanding of the craft. As Martin Gayford becomes closer to Hockney and documents his conversations with the artist, we too can see the reasons behind Hockney's endless originality. He persists in creating new studies, despite finding his personal style, the hunger for documenting reality over and over again never fading. Hockney continues to utilize new mediums and learn about new techniques through the history of art to adapt and create with the times.
It is admirable, the way Hockney became settled in one part of Yorkshire, England, fascinated with the minute changes in his daily scenery - and thus, never tiring of drawing the environment through whatever changes occur.
As a budding photographer, Hockney's views on the misinterpretation of photography (that it depicts reality in its clearest form when the photograph created is still is within the eye of the photographer) - yet how it can contribute to the quickly changing nature art and art techniques in this day and age are fascinating. His insights into visualizing the world, as an artist trained to depict the world, is equally fascinating "Most people don't look at a face for too long; they tend to look away. But you do if you are painting a portrait. [...] "Drawing makes you see things clearer, and clearer, and clearer still." (84)
I learned significantly from this book - on art, on living quietly, on seeing, on the changes of time - and urge people to read this.
I read this from Namjoon's recommendations and now understand why he loves this book. At 85 years of age, David Hockney is still full of vitality and innovation that persists through his artwork and his understanding of the craft. As Martin Gayford becomes closer to Hockney and documents his conversations with the artist, we too can see the reasons behind Hockney's endless originality. He persists in creating new studies, despite finding his personal style, the hunger for documenting reality over and over again never fading. Hockney continues to utilize new mediums and learn about new techniques through the history of art to adapt and create with the times.
It is admirable, the way Hockney became settled in one part of Yorkshire, England, fascinated with the minute changes in his daily scenery - and thus, never tiring of drawing the environment through whatever changes occur.
As a budding photographer, Hockney's views on the misinterpretation of photography (that it depicts reality in its clearest form when the photograph created is still is within the eye of the photographer) - yet how it can contribute to the quickly changing nature art and art techniques in this day and age are fascinating. His insights into visualizing the world, as an artist trained to depict the world, is equally fascinating "Most people don't look at a face for too long; they tend to look away. But you do if you are painting a portrait. [...] "Drawing makes you see things clearer, and clearer, and clearer still." (84)
I learned significantly from this book - on art, on living quietly, on seeing, on the changes of time - and urge people to read this.
November 3, 2025
I wasn't very familiar with Hockney before reading this book. Besides occasionally googling some of his work and looking at tiny pictures of said work on my phone, I've never seen his huge landscape paintings, his photo collages or colourful portraits live. I didn't even know they existed. Now I'd love to see his body of work in real life.
Either way, this book is not only about Hockneys way of working but also on art history, contemplations about what a picture is, thoughts about space, perception and perspective. Not only did I learn a lot and got a lot to think about, I got also super inspired and started drawing outdoors, en plain air.
Highly recommend for both artists and art enthusiasts.
Either way, this book is not only about Hockneys way of working but also on art history, contemplations about what a picture is, thoughts about space, perception and perspective. Not only did I learn a lot and got a lot to think about, I got also super inspired and started drawing outdoors, en plain air.
Highly recommend for both artists and art enthusiasts.
September 25, 2019
THE BEST BOOK I'VE READ THIS YEAR.
Thank you Mr. David Hockney, for sharing your thought and open lots of enlightenments for my life.
Thank you Mr. Martin Gayford for sharing your conversation with Mr. DH.
every little thing Mr. DH said resonates within me. It blew my mind how can someone opinions resonates this deeply within me, and teaches me lots of things.
I'm so grateful Namjoon is reading this while getting his makeup done was recorded by Bighit staff and they shared in in YT, hence I can know the existence of this piece of art and knowledge. (I catch some of the MoTS spoiler inside this books tho hehe).
Once again, I really love this piece of art.
Thank you Mr. David Hockney, for sharing your thought and open lots of enlightenments for my life.
Thank you Mr. Martin Gayford for sharing your conversation with Mr. DH.
every little thing Mr. DH said resonates within me. It blew my mind how can someone opinions resonates this deeply within me, and teaches me lots of things.
I'm so grateful Namjoon is reading this while getting his makeup done was recorded by Bighit staff and they shared in in YT, hence I can know the existence of this piece of art and knowledge. (I catch some of the MoTS spoiler inside this books tho hehe).
Once again, I really love this piece of art.
June 21, 2017
Amazing. Martin Gayford converses with Hockney over years, returning throughout different moments in his career. The dialogues expand out over time and space as Hockney develops his theory of mark-making & picture-making. The conversations skip and skim over cubism & Picasso, photography & fixed vantage points, iPhones & iPads, the Grand Canyon & one particular tree-lined tunnel in Bridlington. Hockney is obsessed with working out a visual language, and this book is necessary for any one who loves art, makes art, breathes art.
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