David Hockney

World of Art

by Marco Livingstone

One of the most widely acclaimed of all living artists, David Hockney has, in some ways, been the victim of his own popularity. Frequently interpreted as the lightweight expression of a colorful personality, his work is characterized by an underlying seriousness of purpose. This emerges with particular clarity from the fresh appraisal of the artist's oeuvre offered in this book, now available in paperback for the first time. Each of the volume's six chapters, broadly chronological in sequence, is introduced by an essay that examines in depth certain aspects of Hockney's artistic practice. The complexity of his seemingly straightforward imagery is further elucidated in the commentaries accompanying each of the sixty-three carefully selected color plates. These encompass the period from 1960-1993, from work produced during the artist's student days at the Royal College of Art in London to his most recent paintings, enriched through his experiences of designing for the stage and by his experiments with photo-collage and fax art. Several lesser known and rarely reproduced paintings are included in this volume in full color together with numerous black-and-white illustrations of related works. Together these provide important reference material. An illustrated chronology and a selected bibliography conclude this lucid, authoritative account of Hockney's development. With access to the artist's personal archives, the authors dispel certain myths about Hockney's work and open up new lines of enquiry. Intended for the general reader, this book will also be of interest to all students of modern painting and to admirers of one of its most appealing exponents.

Genres: Art, Biography, Nonfiction

252 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1981

Reviews

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not very inspired or inspiring but thorough. I guess what you would expect from a world of art book. I read the 1988 edition. This one is updated but I liked the picture.

[AndyDobbieArt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating insight into the ups and downs and ins and outs of Hockney's thought processes and their effect on his art. I look forward to reading it again and taking notes.

[Jesse Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book, though I wish they had more of his iPad drawings.

[anna]

read this for a class. pretty informative, although some of the text was unnecessarily vague and difficult to read

[miso miso · Rating 3 out of 5]

introduced me to art. lame, but true. sat in the library and watched documentaries on him. primarily i liked him because i fancied him but then it turned out he was gay...