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David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century. J. Paul Getty Museum
David Hockney.
Retrieved 13 September 2008.
Hockney has owned residences and studios in
Bridlington Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Cen ...
, and London, as well as two residences in California, where he has lived intermittently since 1964: one in the Hollywood Hills, one in Malibu, and an office and archives on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California. On 15 November 2018, Hockney's 1972 work ''
Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) ''Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)'' is a large acrylic-on-canvas pop art painting by British artist David Hockney, completed in May 1972. It measures , and depicts two figures: one swimming underwater and one clothed male figure ...
'' sold at
Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémis, t ...
auction house in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
for $90 million (£70 million), becoming the most expensive artwork by a living artist sold at auction. This broke the previous record, set by the 2013 sale of Jeff Koons' ''Balloon Dog (Orange)'' for $58.4 million. Hockney held this record until 15 May 2019 when Koons reclaimed the honour selling his ''
Rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit s ...
'' for more than $91 million at Christie's in New York.


Early life and education

David Hockney was born in Bradford,
West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
, England, to Laura and Kenneth Hockney, a
conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to obje ...
in the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the fourth of five children. He was educated at Wellington Primary School, Bradford Grammar School,
Bradford College Bradford College is a further and higher education college in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, with approximately 25,000 students. The college offers a range of full and part-time courses from introductory level through to postgraduate ...
of Art (where his teachers included
Frank Lisle Frank Lisle (1916–1986) was a British painter and art teacher, who numbered a young David Hockney among his pupils when he was Head of Art at Bradford College of Art. He was principal of Jacob Kramer College from 1970 to 1977. Among his po ...
and his fellow students included Derek Boshier, Pauline Boty, Norman Stevens, David Oxtoby and
John Loker John Loker (born 1938) is a contemporary British abstract painter based in East Anglia and represented by Flowers Gallery, London and New York. Loker has numerous artworks in public and private collections, and has exhibited in some of the UK's ma ...
) and the
Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It of ...
in London, where he met R. B. Kitaj. While there, Hockney said he felt at home and took pride in his work. At the Royal College of Art, Hockney featured in the exhibition ''
Young Contemporaries New Contemporaries is an organisation in the United Kingdom, UK that works to support emerging artists at the beginning of their careers by introducing them to the visual arts sector and to the public through a variety of platforms, including an an ...
'' – alongside Peter Blake – that announced the arrival of British Pop art. He was associated with the movement, but his early works display expressionist elements, similar to some works by
Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
. When the RCA said it would not let him graduate if he did not complete an assignment of a life drawing of a live model in 1962, Hockney painted ''Life Painting for a Diploma'' in protest. He had refused to write an essay required for the final examination, saying he should be assessed solely on his artworks. Recognizing his talent and growing reputation, the RCA changed its regulations and awarded the diploma. After leaving the RCA, he taught at
Maidstone College of Art The Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD, often ) was an art school based across three campuses in the county of Kent, in the United Kingdom. It was formed by the amalgamation of three independent colleges: Canterbury College of Art, Maidstone Col ...
for a short time. He taught at the University of Iowa in 1964. Hockney also taught at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1965. Then taught at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1966-1967, followed by the University of California, Berkeley in 1967.


Career

In 1964, Hockney moved to
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
, where he was inspired to make a series of paintings of swimming pools in the comparatively new acrylic medium using vibrant colours. He lived back and forth among Los Angeles, London, and Paris in the late 1960s to 1970s. In 1974 he began a decade-long personal relationship with Gregory Evans who moved with him to the US in 1976 and as of 2019 remains a business partner. In 1978 he rented a house in the Hollywood Hills, and later bought and expanded it to include his studio. He also owned a 1,643-square-foot beach house at 21039 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, which he sold in 1999 for around $1.5 million. In the 1990s, Hockney returned more frequently to Yorkshire, usually every three months, to visit his mother who died in 1999. Until 1997, he rarely stayed for more than two weeks, when his friend Jonathan Silver who was terminally ill encouraged him to capture the local surroundings. He did this at first with paintings based on memory, some from his boyhood. In 1998, he completed the painting of the
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
landmark,
Garrowby Hill Bishop Wilton Wold is the highest point of the Yorkshire Wolds in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The summit, known as Garrowby Hill, lies about north of Pocklington. As with most of the wolds, it is wide, flat and agricultural in natu ...
. Hockney returned to Yorkshire for longer and longer stays, and by 2003 was painting the countryside
en plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...
in both oils and watercolour. He set up residence and studio in a converted bed and breakfast, in the seaside town of
Bridlington Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Cen ...
, about from where he was born. The oil paintings he produced after 2005 were influenced by his intensive studies in watercolour, a series titled ''Midsummer: East Yorkshire'' (2003–2004).David Hockney: Paintings 2006–2009, 29 October – 24 December 2009
Pace Gallery The Pace Gallery is an American contemporary and modern art, modern art gallery with 9 locations worldwide. It was founded in Boston by Arne Glimcher in 1960. His son, Marc Glimcher, is now president and CEO. Pace Gallery operates in New York, L ...
, New York.
He created paintings made of multiple smaller canvases—two to fifty—placed together. To help him visualise work at that scale, he used digital photographic reproductions to study the day's work. In spring 2019 Hockney stayed at La Grande Cour, a farmhouse and studio in
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, during the global
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
.


Work

Hockney has experimented with painting, drawing, printmaking, watercolours, photography, and many other media including a fax machine, paper pulp, computer applications and iPad drawing programs. The subject matter of interest ranges from still lifes to landscapes,
portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...
s of friends, his dogs, and stage designs for the
Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal ...
, Glyndebourne, and the
Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...
in New York City.


Portraits

Hockney has always returned to painting portraits throughout his career. From 1968, and for the next few years, he painted portraits and double portraits of friends, lovers, and relatives just under life-size in a realistic style that adroitly captured the likenesses of his subjects. Hockney has repeatedly been drawn to the same subjects – his family, employees, artists Mo McDermott and Maurice Payne, various writers he has known, fashion designers Celia Birtwell and Ossie Clark ('' Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy'', 1970–71), curator Henry Geldzahler, art dealer Nicholas Wilder, George Lawson and his ballet dancer lover, Wayne Sleep, and also his romantic interests throughout the years, including
Peter Schlesinger Peter Schlesinger (born April 2, 1948 in Los Angeles, California) is an American artist, author, and former artist's model, perhaps most well known for being the subject in numerous notable canvases by the British painter David Hockney. Biograph ...
and Gregory Evans. Perhaps more than all of these, Hockney has turned to his own figure year after year, creating over 300 self-portraits. From 1999 to 2001 Hockney used a camera lucida for his research into art history as well as his own work in the studio. He created over 200 drawings of friends, family, and himself using this antique lens-based device. In 2016, the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purp ...
exhibited Hockney's series entitled ''82 Portraits and 1 Still-life'' which traveled to Ca' Pesaro in Venice, Italy, and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, in 2017 and to the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 196 ...
in 2018. Hockney calls the paintings started in 2013 "twenty-hour exposures" because each sitting took six to seven hours on three consecutive days.


Printmaking

Hockney experimented with printmaking as early as a lithograph ''Self-Portrait'' in 1954 and worked in etchings during his time at RCA.Beaumont-Jones, Julia
"The Rake's Progress,"
''Art in Print'', Vol. 4 No. 4 (November–December 2014).
In 1965, the print workshop Gemini G.E.L. approached him to create a series of lithographs with a Los Angeles theme. Hockney responded by creating ''The Hollywood Collection'', a series of lithographs recreating the art collection of a Hollywood star, each piece depicting an imagined work of art within a frame. Hockney went on to produce many other portfolios with Gemini G.E.L. including ''Friends, The Weather Series,'' and ''Some New Prints''. During the 1960s he produced several series of prints he thought of as 'graphic tales', including ''A Rake’s Progress'' (1961–63) after Hogarth, ''Illustrations for Fourteen Poems from C.P. Cavafy'' (1966) and ''Illustrations for Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm'' (1969). In 1973 Hockney began a fruitful collaboration with Aldo Crommelynck, Picasso's preferred printer. In his atelier, he adopted Crommelynck's trademark sugar lift, as well as a system of the master's own devising of imposing a wooden frame onto the plate to ensure colour separation. Their early work together included ''Artist and Model'' (1973–74) and ''Contrejour in the French Style'' (1974). In 1976 Hockney created a portfolio of 20 etchings at Crommelynck's atelier, ''The Blue Guitar: Etchings By David Hockney Who Was Inspired By Wallace Stevens Who Was Inspired By Pablo Picasso''. The etchings refer to themes in a poem by Wallace Stevens, "The Man with the Blue Guitar". It was published by Petersburg Press in October 1977. That year, Petersburg also published a book, in which the images were accompanied by the poem's text. In the summer of 1978, David Hockney stayed 6 weeks with his friend the printer Ken Tyler at Tyler's studio in New York, Tyler Graphics Ltd. Tyler invited Hockney to try a new technique with liquid paper. The process is painting with the paper itself, so the artist had to do it himself by hand. Each image becomes a unique work between printmaking and painting. In 6 weeks, Hockney created a total of 29 artworks with a series of 17 sunflowers and swimming pools. Many of the works are very similar, differentiated by changes in colour choice and application of the colour. Some are solely coloured using paper pulp, while some use spray paint to achieve certain details. Some of Hockney's other print portfolios include ''Home Made Prints'' (1986), ''Recent Etchings'' (1998) and ''Moving Focus'' (1984–1986), which contains lithographs related to '' A Walk Around the Hotel Courtyard, Acatlan.'' A retrospective of his prints, including 'computer drawings' printed on fax machines and inkjet printers, was exhibited at Dulwich Picture Gallery in London 5 February – 11 May 2014 and Bowes Museum, County Durham 7 June – 28 September 2014, with an accompanying publication ''Hockney, Printmaker'' by Richard Lloyd.


Photocollages

In the early 1980s, Hockney began to produce photo collages—which in his early explorations within his personal photo albums he referred to as "joiners"—first using Polaroid prints and subsequently 35mm, commercially processed colour prints. Using Polaroid snaps or photolab-prints of a single subject, Hockney arranged a patchwork to make a composite image. Because the photographs are taken from different perspectives and at slightly different times, the result is work that has an affinity with Cubism, one of Hockney's major aims—discussing the way human vision works. Some pieces are landscapes, such as ''Pearblossom Highway #2'', others
portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...
s, such as ''Kasmin 1982,'' and ''My Mother, Bolton Abbey, 1982.'' Creation of the "joiners" occurred accidentally. He noticed in the late sixties that photographers were using cameras with wide-angle lenses. He did not like these photographs because they looked somewhat distorted. While working on a painting of a living room and terrace in Los Angeles, he took Polaroid shots of the living room and glued them together, not intending for them to be a composition on their own. On looking at the final composition, he realised it created a narrative, as if the viewer moved through the room. He began to work more with photography after this discovery and stopped painting for a while to exclusively pursue this new technique. Over time, however, he discovered what he could ''not'' capture with a lens, saying: "Photography seems to be rather good at portraiture, or can be. But, it can't tell you about space, which is the essence of landscape. For me anyway. Even Ansel Adams can't quite prepare you for what Yosemite looks like when you go through that tunnel and you come out the other side." Frustrated with the limitations of photography and its 'one-eyed' approach, he returned to painting.


Other technology

In December 1985 Hockney used the
Quantel Paintbox The Quantel Paintbox was a dedicated computer graphics workstation for composition of broadcast television video and graphics. Produced by the British production equipment manufacturer Quantel (which, via a series of mergers, is now part of Grass ...
, a computer program that allowed the artist to sketch directly onto the screen. The resulting work was featured in a BBC series that profiled several artists. In 1999–2001, David's sister, Margaret, began experimenting with digital photography, scanning and computer printing, particularly making images of flowers scanning a small Japanese vase and fresh flowers. In 2003, she was experimenting with
Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in ras ...
, scanning summer flowers and building up images in layers which Margaret printed out on an A3 printer. In 2004, David went to stay with Margaret and she helped him scan his sketchbook of Yorkshire landscape and David soon began using a Wacom pad and pen directly into Photoshop. Since 2009, Hockney has painted hundreds of portraits, still lifes and landscapes using the Brushes iPhone and
iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operati ...
Gayford, Martin.
David Hockney's IPad Doodles Resemble High-Tech Stained Glass
Bloomberg, 26 April 2010.
application, often sending them to his friends. In 2010 and 2011, Hockney visited
Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...
to draw its landscape on his iPad. He used an iPad in designing a stained glass window at
Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
which celebrated the reign of
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
. Unveiled in September 2018, the Queen's Window is located in the north transept of the Abbey and features a hawthorn blossom scene which is set in Yorkshire. From 2010 to 2014, Hockney created multi-camera movies using three to eighteen cameras to record a single scene. He filmed the landscape of
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
in various seasons, jugglers and dancers, and his own exhibitions within the de Young Museum and the
Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purp ...
. Hockney's earlier photocollages influenced his shift to another medium, digital photography. He combined hundreds of photographs to create multi-viewpoint "photographic drawings" of groups of his friends in 2014. Hockney picked the process back up in 2017, this time using the more advanced Agisoft PhotoScan photogrammetric software which allowed him to stitch together and rearrange thousands of photos. The resulting images were printed out as massive photomurals and were exhibited at
Pace Gallery The Pace Gallery is an American contemporary and modern art, modern art gallery with 9 locations worldwide. It was founded in Boston by Arne Glimcher in 1960. His son, Marc Glimcher, is now president and CEO. Pace Gallery operates in New York, L ...
and LACMA in 2018.


Plein air landscapes

In June 2007, Hockney's largest painting, '' Bigger Trees Near Warter or/ou Peinture sur le Motif pour le Nouvel Age Post-Photographique'', which measures , was hung in the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purp ...
's largest gallery in its annual
Summer Exhibition The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, sc ...
. This work "is a monumental-scale view of a coppice in Hockney's native Yorkshire, between Bridlington and York. It was painted on 50 individual canvases, mostly working in situ, over five weeks last winter." In 2008, he donated it to
Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
in London, saying: "I thought if I'm going to give something to the Tate I want to give them something really good. It's going to be here for a while. I don't want to give things I'm not too proud of... I thought this was a good painting because it's of England... it seems like a good thing to do." The painting was the subject of a BBC1 Imagine film documentary by Bruno Wollheim called ''David Hockney: A Bigger Picture'' (2009) which followed Hockney as he worked outdoors over the preceding two years.


Theatre works

Hockney's first stage designs were for '' Ubu Roi'' at London's
Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal ...
in 1966, Stravinsky's '' The Rake's Progress'' at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in England in 1975, and '' The Magic Flute'' for Glyndebourne in 1978. In 1980, he agreed to design sets and costumes for a 20th-century French triple bill at the Metropolitan Opera House with the title ''Parade.'' The works were '' Parade'', a ballet with music by Erik Satie; '' Les mamelles de Tirésias'', an opera with libretto by Guillaume Apollinaire and music by
Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among the best-kn ...
, and '' L'enfant et les sortilèges'', an opera with libretto by Colette and music by Maurice Ravel. The reimagined set of '' L'enfant et les sortilèges'' from the 1983 exhibition ''Hockney Paints the Stage'' is a permanent installation at the Spalding House branch of the Honolulu Museum of Art. He designed sets for another triple bill of Stravinsky's '' Le sacre du printemps, Le rossignol,'' and '' Oedipus Rex'' for the
Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...
in 1981 as well as
Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...
's ''
Tristan und Isolde ''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was compos ...
'' for the
Los Angeles Music Center Opera The Music Center (officially named the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County) is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Located in downtown Los Angeles, The Music Center is composed of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion ...
in 1987,
Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long li ...
's '' Turandot'' in 1991 at the Chicago Lyric Opera, and
Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic music, Romantic and early Modernism (music), modern eras, he has been descr ...
's ''
Die Frau ohne Schatten ' (''The Woman without a Shadow''), Op. 65, is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a libretto by his long-time collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was written between 1911 and either 1915 or 1917. When it premiered at the ...
'' in 1992 at the
Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal ...
in London. In 1994, he designed costumes and scenery for twelve opera arias for the TV broadcast of Plácido Domingo's '' Operalia'' in Mexico City. Technical advances allowed him to become increasingly complex in model-making. At his studio he had a proscenium opening by in which he built sets in 1:8 scale. He also used a computerised setup that let him punch in and program lighting cues at will and synchronise them to a soundtrack of the music. In 2017, Hockney was awarded the San Francisco Opera Medal on the occasion of the revival and restoration of his production for ''Turandot''. The majority of Hockney's theater works and stage design studies are found in the collection of The David Hockney Foundation.


Exhibitions

David Hockney has been featured in over 400 solo exhibitions and over 500 group exhibitions. He had his first one-man show at Kasmin Limited when he was 26 in 1963, and by 1970 the
Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the f ...
in London had organised the first of several major retrospectives, which subsequently travelled to three European institutions. LACMA also hosted a retrospective exhibition in 1988 which travelled to The Met, New York, and
Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
, London. In 2004, he was included in the cross-generational Whitney Biennial, where his portraits appeared in a gallery with those of a younger artist he had inspired, Elizabeth Peyton. In October 2006, the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...
in London organised one of the largest ever displays of Hockney's portraiture work, including 150 paintings, drawings, prints, sketchbooks, and photocollages from over five decades. The collection ranged from his earliest self-portraits to work he completed in 2005. Hockney assisted in displaying the works and the exhibition, which ran until January 2007, was one of the gallery's most successful. In 2009, "David Hockney: Just Nature" attracted some 100,000 visitors at the Kunsthalle Würth in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany. From 21 January 2012 to 9 April 2012, the Royal Academy presented ''A Bigger Picture'', which included more than 150 works, many of which take entire walls in the gallery's brightly lit rooms. The exhibition is dedicated to landscapes, especially trees and
tree tunnel A tree tunnel is a road, lane or track where the trees on each side form a more or less continuous canopy overhead, giving the effect of a tunnel. The effect may be achieved in a formal avenue lined with trees or in a more rural setting with ra ...
s of his native Yorkshire. Works included oil paintings, watercolours, and drawings created on an iPad and printed on paper. Hockney said, in a 2012 interview, "It's about big things. You can make paintings bigger. We're also making photographs bigger, videos bigger, all to do with drawing." The exhibition drew more than 600,000 visitors in under 3 months. The exhibition moved to the Guggenheim Museum in
Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...
, Spain from 15 May to 30 September, and from there to the Ludwig Museum in
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
, Germany, between 27 October 2012 and 3 February 2013. From 26 October 2013 to 30 January 2014 ''David Hockney: A Bigger Exhibition'' was presented at the de Young Museum, one of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The largest solo exhibition Hockney has had, with 397 works of art in more than 18,000 square feet, was curated by Gregory Evans and included the only public showing of ''The Great Wall'', developed during research for ''Secret Knowledge'', and works from 1999 to 2013 in a variety of media from camera lucida drawings to watercolours, oil paintings, and digital works. From 9 February to 29 May 2017 ''David Hockney'' was presented at the Tate Britain, becoming the gallery's most visited exhibition ever. The exhibition marked Hockney's 80th year and gathered together "an extensive selection of David Hockney’s most famous works celebrating his achievements in painting, drawing, print, photography and video across six decades". The show then travelled to
Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
in Paris and
The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
. The wildly popular retrospective landed among the top ten ticketed exhibitions in London and Paris for 2017 with over 4,000 visitors per day at the Tate and over 5,000 visitors per day in Paris. After the blockbuster exhibitions in 2017 of the works of decades past, Hockney moved right along to show his newest paintings on hexagonal canvases and mural-size 3D photographic drawings at
Pace Gallery The Pace Gallery is an American contemporary and modern art, modern art gallery with 9 locations worldwide. It was founded in Boston by Arne Glimcher in 1960. His son, Marc Glimcher, is now president and CEO. Pace Gallery operates in New York, L ...
in 2018. He revisited paintings of Garrowby Hill, the Grand Canyon, and Nichols Canyon Road, this time painting them on hexagonal canvases to enhance aspects of reverse perspective. In 2019, his early work featured in his native
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
at The Hepworth Wakefield. In April–June 2022 an exhibition "Hockney's Eye: The Art and Technology of Depiction" was held at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and at the city's Heong Gallery.


Personal life

Hockney came out as gay at the age of 23, while studying at the
Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It of ...
in London. Britain decriminalised homosexual acts seven years later in the Sexual Offences Act 1967. Hockney has explored the nature of gay love in his work, such in as the painting ''We Two Boys Together Clinging'' (1961), named after a poem by
Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...
. In 1963 he painted two men together in the painting ''Domestic Scene, Los Angeles'', one showering while the other washes his back. In the summer of 1966, while teaching at
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...
, he met
Peter Schlesinger Peter Schlesinger (born April 2, 1948 in Los Angeles, California) is an American artist, author, and former artist's model, perhaps most well known for being the subject in numerous notable canvases by the British painter David Hockney. Biograph ...
, an art student who posed for paintings and drawings, and with whom he became romantically involved. Another of Hockney's romantic partners was the subject of his work was Gregory Evans; the two met in 1971 and began a relationship in 1974. While no longer romantically involved, they still work together, with Evans managing the David Hockney Studio. Hockney’s current partner is longtime companion Jean-Pierre Gonçalves de Lima. Also known as JP, he also works with Hockney in his studio as his chief assistant. On the morning of 18 March 2013, Hockney's 23-year-old assistant, Dominic Elliott, died as a result of drinking
drain cleaner A drain cleaner is method for unblocking sewer pipes or clogged wastewater drains. The term may also refer to a mechanical device such as a plumber's snake, drain auger, toilet plunger, or similar device. Occasionally, the term is applied to a pl ...
at Hockney's Bridlington studio; he had also earlier drunk alcohol and taken
cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...
,
ecstasy Ecstasy may refer to: * Ecstasy (emotion), a trance or trance-like state in which a person transcends normal consciousness * Religious ecstasy, a state of consciousness, visions or absolute euphoria * Ecstasy (philosophy), to be or stand outside o ...
and temazepam. Elliott was a first- and second-team player for Bridlington Rugby Club. It was reported that Hockney's partner drove Elliott to Scarborough General Hospital where he later died. The inquest returned a verdict of death by misadventure and Hockney was never implicated. In November 2015 Hockney sold his house in Bridlington, a five-bedroomed former guest house, for £625,000, cutting all his remaining ties with the town. He holds a California Medical Marijuana Verification Card, which enables him to buy
cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternativel ...
for medical purposes. He has used hearing aids since 1979, but realised he was going deaf long before that. As of 2018, he kept fit by spending half an hour in the swimming pool each morning, and could stand for six hours at the easel. Lynn Barber (2016), "When I'm painting I feel 30. It's only when I stop that I know I'm not", '' Sunday Times Magazine'', 11 September 2016, pp.10–15 Hockney has synaesthetic associations between sound, colour and shape.


Collections

Many of Hockney's works are housed in the 1853 Gallery at Salts Mill in
Saltaire Saltaire is a Victorian model village in Shipley, part of the City of Bradford Metropolitan District, in West Yorkshire, England. The Victorian era Salt's Mill and associated residential district located by the River Aire and Leeds and Live ...
, near his hometown of Bradford. Another large group of works are held by The David Hockney Foundation. His work is in numerous public and private collections worldwide, including: * Honolulu Museum of Art *
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...
* National Gallery of Australia, Canberra *
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mil ...
*
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Bui ...
* Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark *
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...
, London *
Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
, U.K. * J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles *
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 196 ...
*
Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, to ...
, Minneapolis *
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...
, New York *
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...
, New York *
Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
, Paris * Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco *
Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...
, Tokyo * Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova,
Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
,
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...
* Mumok, Ludwig Foundation, Vienna * Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. *
Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds ...
, Washington, D.C. * Muscarelle Museum of Art, Williamsburg, VA


Recognition

In 1967, Hockney's painting, '' Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool'', won the
John Moores Painting Prize The John Moores Painting Prize is a biennial award to the best contemporary painting, submission is open to the public. The prize is named for Sir John Moores, noted philanthropist, who established the award in 1957. The winning work and short-lis ...
at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Hockney was offered a
knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
in 1990 but declined, before accepting an Order of Merit in January 2012. He was awarded The
Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...
's Progress medal in 1988 and the Special 150th Anniversary Medal and Honorary Fellowship in recognition of a sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography in 2003. He was made a
Companion of Honour The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire, it is sometime ...
in 1997 and awarded The Cultural Award from the German Society for Photography (DGPh). He is a
Royal Academician The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
. In 2012, he was appointed to the Order of Merit, an honour restricted to 24 members at any one time for their contributions to the arts and sciences. He was a Distinguished Honoree of the National Arts Association, Los Angeles, in 1991 and received the First Annual Award of Achievement from the Archives of American Art, Los Angeles, in 1993. He was appointed to the board of trustees of the American Associates of the Royal Academy Trust, New York in 1992 and was given a Foreign Honorary Membership to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...
, Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1997. In 2003, Hockney was awarded the Lorenzo de' Medici Lifetime Career Award of the Florence Biennale, Italy. Commissioned by The Other Art Fair, a November 2011 poll of 1,000 British painters and sculptors declared him Britain's most influential artist of all time. In 2012, Hockney was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles' ''
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composi ...
'' album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires. He is an honorary member of the
Printmakers Council The London-based Printmakers Council, founded in 1965, aims to promote the art of printmaking (through providing information, encouraging co-operation and holding exhibitions) and the work of contemporary printmakers. Their office is situated in ...
.


Art market

On 21 June 2006, Hockney's painting ''The Splash'' sold for £2.6 million. It was offered for auction again on 11 February 2020, with an estimate of £20–30 million and sold, to an unknown buyer, for £23.1 million. His '' A Bigger Grand Canyon'', a series of 60 canvases that combined to produce one enormous picture, was bought by the National Gallery of Australia for $4.6 million. '' Beverly Hills Housewife'' (1966–67), a 12-foot-long acrylic that depicts the collector Betty Freeman standing by her pool in a long hot-pink dress, sold for $7.9 million at
Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémis, t ...
in New York in 2008, the top lot of the sale and a record price for a Hockney. This was topped in 2016 when his ''Woldgate Woods'' landscape made £9.4 million at auction. The record was broken again in 2018 with the sale of ''Piscine de Medianoche'' (''Paper Pool 30)'' for $11.74 million and then doubled in the same Sotheby's auction when ''Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica'' sold for $28.5 million. On 15 November 2018, David Hockney's 1972 painting ''
Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) ''Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)'' is a large acrylic-on-canvas pop art painting by British artist David Hockney, completed in May 1972. It measures , and depicts two figures: one swimming underwater and one clothed male figure ...
'' sold at Christie's for $90.3 million with fees, surpassing the previous auction record for a living artist of $58.4 million, held by Jeff Koons for one of his ''Balloon Dog'' sculptures. He had originally sold this painting for $20,000 in 1972.


The Hockney–Falco thesis

In the 2001 television programme and book ''Secret Knowledge'', Hockney posited that the
Old Master In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...
s used ''
camera obscura A camera obscura (; ) is a darkened room with a small hole or lens at one side through which an image is projected onto a wall or table opposite the hole. ''Camera obscura'' can also refer to analogous constructions such as a box or tent in ...
'' as well as '' camera lucida'' and lens techniques that projected the image of the subject onto the surface of the painting. Hockney argues that this technique migrated gradually from Northern Europe to Italy, and is the reason for the photographic style of painting we see in the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...
and later periods of art. He published his conclusions in the 2001 book ''Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters'', which was revised in 2006.


Public life

Like his father, Hockney was a conscientious objector, and worked as a medical orderly in hospitals during his National Service, 1957–1959. Hockney was a founder of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, in 1979. He serves on the advisory board of the political magazine '' Standpoint'', and contributed original sketches for its launch edition, in June 2008, as well as agreeing to allow ''Standpoint'' to publish his previous views and pictures over the years. He is a staunch pro-tobacco campaigner and was invited to guest-edit BBC Radio's '' Today'' programme on 29 December 2009 in which he aired his views on the subject. In October 2010, he and a hundred other artists signed an open letter to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport,
Jeremy Hunt Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (born 1 November 1966) is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Exchequer since 14 October 2022. He previously served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport ...
, protesting against cutbacks in the arts.


In popular culture

In 1966, while working on a series of etchings based on love poems by the Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy, Hockney starred in a documentary by filmmaker
James Scott James Scott may refer to: Entertainment * James Scott (composer) (1885–1938), African-American ragtime composer * James Scott (director) (born 1941), British filmmaker * James Scott (actor) (born 1979), British television actor * James Scott (Sh ...
, entitled ''Love's Presentation''. He was the subject of Jack Hazan's 1974 biopic, '' A Bigger Splash'', named after Hockney's 1967 pool painting of the same name. Hockney was also the inspiration of artist Billy Pappas in the documentary film ''Waiting for Hockney'' (2008), which debuted at the
Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was ...
in 2008. Hockney was inducted into ''Vanity Fair''s International Best-Dressed Hall of Fame in 1986. In 2005, Burberry creative director Christopher Bailey centred his entire spring/summer menswear collection around the artist and in 2012, fashion designer
Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood came to public notice when she ...
, a close friend, named a checked jacket after Hockney. In 2011, British '' GQ'' named him one of the 50 Most Stylish Men in Britain and in March 2013, he was listed as one of the Fifty Best-dressed Over-50s by ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...
''. Hockney was commissioned to design the cover and pages for the December 1985 issue of the French edition of '' Vogue''. Consistent with his interest in cubism and admiration for
Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is ...
, Hockney chose to paint Celia Birtwell (who appears in several of his works) from different views for the cover, as if the eye had scanned her face diagonally. ''David Hockney: A Rake's Progress'' (2012) is a biography of Hockney covering the years 1937–1975, by writer/photographer Christopher Simon Sykes. In 2012, Hockney featured in
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...
's list of '' The New Elizabethans'' to mark the diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. A panel of seven academics, journalists and historians named Hockney among the group of people in the UK "whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and given the age its character". The 2015 Luca Guadagnino's film '' A Bigger Splash'' was named after Hockney's painting. In 2022, he was portrayed by
Laurence Fuller Laurence is an English and French given name (usually female in French and usually male in English). The English masculine name is a variant of Lawrence and it originates from a French form of the Latin ''Laurentius'', a name meaning "man from ...
in the 7th episode of the 1st season of ''
Minx Minx, MinX or MINX may refer to: Music * MINX (band), dissolved South Korean girl group replaced by Dreamcatcher * MINX (musician) (born 1983), Australian DJ and producer * ''Minx'' (Leatherface album), 1993 * ''Minx'' (Toyah album), 1985 Prin ...
''.


David Hockney Foundation

The David Hockney Foundation—both the UK registered charity 1127262 and the US 501(c)(3) private operating foundation—was created by the artist in 2008. In 2012, Hockney, worth an estimated $55.2 million (approx. £36.1 m), transferred paintings valued at $124.2 million (approx. £81.5 m) to the David Hockney Foundation, and gave an additional $1.2 million (approx. £0.79 m) in cash to help fund the foundation's operations. The foundation's mission is to advance appreciation and understanding of visual art and culture through the exhibition, preservation, and publication of David Hockney's work. Richard Benefield, who organised ''David Hockney: A Bigger Exhibition'' in 2013–2014 at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, became the first executive director in January 2017. The foundation owns over 8,000 works – paintings, drawings, watercolours, complete editioned prints, stage design, multi-camera movies, and other media. They also hold 203 sketchbooks and Hockney's personal photo albums from 1961 to 1990. The foundation manages various loans to museums and exhibitions around the world, including ''Happy Birthday, Mr. Hockney!'' at the Getty celebrating his 80th birthday, and the retrospective exhibitions of 2017–2018 at the
Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
,
Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...
, and Tate Britain.


Books


By Hockney

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * In October 2016
Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Taschen Comic ...
published ''David Hockney: A Bigger Book'', costing £1,750 (£3,500 with an added loose print). The artist curated the selection of more than 60 years of his work reproduced within 498 pages. The book, weighing 78 lbs, had gone through 19 proof stages. The book came with an (optional) substantial wooden lectern. He unveiled the book at the Frankfurt Book Fair where he was the keynote speaker at the opening press conference.


Contributions by Hockney

*


References


Further reading

* Weschler, L. ''Cameraworks'' (with David Hockney – photographer) (1984) Alfred A. Knopf, (portions of the essay by Weschler appeared in the New Yorker in a slightly different form), * Geldzahler, H., Knight, C., Kitaj, R. B., Schiff, G., Hoy, A., Silver, K. E. and Weschler, L. ''David Hockney: A Retrospective (Painters & sculptors)'' (1988), Thames and Hudson, London, * Shanes, E. ''Hockney Posters'' (with David Hockney), (1988),
Crown Publishing Group The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Penguin Random House that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded into ...
, * Luckhardt, U. and Melia, P. ''David Hockney: A Drawing Retrospective'' (1995), Thames and Hudson, London, * Livingstone, M. ''David Hockney: Space and Line'' (1999), Annely Juda Fine Art, London, * Livingstone, M. ''David Hockney: Painting on Paper'' (2002), Annely Juda Fine Art, London, * Livingstone, M. ''David Hockney: Egyptian Journeys'' (2002),
American University in Cairo Press The American University in Cairo Press (AUCP, AUC Press) is the leading English-language publisher in the Middle East. The largest translator of Arabic literature in the world, AUC Press has a reputation for carefully selecting and translating ...
, Cairo, * Frémon, J ''David Hockney, Close and far'' (2001) * Howgate, S. ''David Hockney Portraits'' (2006),
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...
, * Melia, P. and Luckhardt, U. ''David Hockney: Paintings'' (2007), Prestel, Munich, * Becker, C. and Livingstone, M. ''David Hockney'' (2009), Swiridoff Verlag, Künzelsau, * Sykes, C. S. ''Hockney: The Biography'' (2011),
Century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial ...
, * Seckiner, S. ''South'' (Güney), published July 2013, consists of 12 article and essays. One of them, American Collectors, re-focus on David Hockney's importance in the philosophy of art. . * Dagen, P. ''David Hockney, The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate'' (2015) * Didier Ottinger, ''Pictures of Daily Life'', Galerie Lelong & Co. (2018) * Frémon, J, ''David Hockney en pays d'Auge, L'Echoppe,'' (2020)


External links

*
The David Hockney Foundation


* ttp://www.yocc.co.uk Hockney Yorkshire Wolds Art Locations {{DEFAULTSORT:Hockney, David 1937 births Living people 20th-century British painters 20th-century British photographers 20th-century English painters 21st-century British photographers 21st-century English painters 21st-century male artists Academics of the University for the Creative Arts Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts Alumni of the Royal College of Art Artist authors Artists from Bradford Artists from California British conscientious objectors British pop artists Deaf artists English contemporary artists English expatriates in the United States English male painters English printmakers Gay artists LGBT artists from the United Kingdom LGBT people from England Members of the Order of Merit Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Neo-expressionist artists The New Yorker people Opera designers People educated at Bradford Grammar School Photographers from Yorkshire Postmodern artists Recipients of the Praemium Imperiale Royal Academicians