David Hockney Photo: Connaissance des Arts CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons |
David Hockney, one of the UK's most important and influential artists, has died at the age of 88.
The genius painter who famously came from Bradford, produced work that was enduringly popular and instantly recognisable. He currently has exhibitions on at The Moon Room in New York, The Turner Contemporary Rendezvous in Margate and The Serpentine Gallery in London. David Hockney passed away peacefully on Thursday 11th June at his home in Marylebone, London just one month short of his 89th birthday. |
|
His career of more than 70 years saw vibrant and innovative artworks produced, using composites of Polaroid pictures, old fashioned faxes
and iPad portraits of his friends and family. His swimming pool paintings were created alongside landscapes of his native Yorkshire and
witty, always sharp observations of the world he saw around him.
Famously David lived in Los Angeles on and off from 1963 until he moved back to Marylebone, London in 2004. During the time he was in the City of Angels, he would still wake up each morning wondering if the weather would turn out fine. It seems you can take the boy out of Bradford but you can't take Bradford out of the boy. It was while a boy in Bradford that Hockney first had aspirations to be an artist. After attending a local art school he continued his studies at the Royal College of Art in London in 1959. | |
David Hockney Collage by Marcus Levine Photo: Stephen Armstrong via Wikimedia Commons |
While there, Hockney went through a period of self-discovery, both in terms of sexual preference and artistic style. The young gay man
with the bleached blonde hair made an immediate impression. By his mid-20s Hockney was already achieving international success, gaining him a
reputation as a Pop artist in the process.
David Hockney’s use of the latest technology of the time was an extension of his interest in different modes of capturing reality. From his Polaroid composites to fax machine drawings and, in recent years, his iPad paintings, he sought to unlock the potential of each technology for the creation of art. His style and natural flare for innovative art often inspired other artists of his day. |
|
During his time in Los Angeles, blue skies and swimming pools became favoured themes of David Hockney's work. There were many homoerotic images of sun-kissed
young men. In 1966 he met Peter Sclesinger, an art student who became his lover and favourite model. They split four years later but
Peter Schlesinger was for some time his central muse and one of the main subjects of the acclaimed 1973 biographical film A Bigger Splash.
Rather than being a scripted movie where he played a dramatic role, the film is a semi-fictionalised documentary. It told of the emotional fallout of the lingering breakup between Schlesinger and Hockney himself. The movie, directed by Jack Hazan, features Schlesinger, Hockney, and their flamboyant 1970s circle of friends playing themselves. The title itself is a nod to Hockney’s iconic 1967 pop-art painting A Bigger Splash, which was largely inspired by Schlesinger. The original trailer for the film can be found below. In June 2006, Hockney's painting The Splash as featured in the film, sold for £2.6 million. It was offered for auction again in February 2020, with an estimate of £20-30 million and sold, to an unknown buyer, for £23.1 million. A Bigger Splash TrailerClick the picture below to start the video:
Having encapsulated LA life, David Hockney went on to paint striking portraits such as Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy (the cat). During the 70s, Hockney designed sets for some lavish operatic productions including The Rakes Progress and The Magic Flute. In the 80s, never afraid to break artistic conventions, Hockney pushed the boundaries of modern art by experimenting with Polaroids, photocopiers and fax machines. "If art isn't playful, it's nothing", he said. A Year in NormandieDavid Hockney: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting is a current exhibition in London that's on until 23 August 2026, at the Serpentine North Gallery. The idea behind the exhibition was to invite people to slow down and notice the extraordinary within the everyday.Created specifically for this presentation at the Serpentine, Hockney’s new paintings extended his lifelong fascination with the act of looking, affirming his belief that simple beauty is worth celebrating. David Hockney was always motivated to paint what he saw in the surroundings he was in at the time, whether that was from a workshop in America, France or England. Inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, A Year in Normandie captures the changing seasons at the artist’s former studio in Normandy. In the context of the exhibition at Serpentine, it also opens a dialogue with the surrounding nature of Kensington Gardens.
With his passing, he's been recognised as the one of the most commercially successful artists of his generation - even his old faxes would still sell for thousands. In 2012, David Hockney was voted Britain's most influential artist in a poll of 1,000 British artists commissioned by The Other Art Fair. David Hockney was awarded the Order of Merit, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. It remains a personal gift the Sovereign and is restricted to a maximum of 24 living recipients. He was also awarded The Order of the Companions of Honour for outstanding achievements. He was a Royal Academician, and an honorary member of the Printmakers Council. King Charles III has just said, "David was one of life’s true originals; one who wore his genius as lightly as those beloved yellow Crocs of his that helped brighten Palace occasions. I trust they will see him tread safely into the hereafter as we mourn a man whose irrepressible charm, talent and constant innovation will be most sorely missed, but whose dazzling creativity lives on in galleries and museums around the world."
As to whether his works will one day accrue classic status, David Hockney always seemed not too bothered. "I don't care much about them lasting,
I'll be long gone, off on another adventure." Sadly he's just started that new adventure, having passed away at the age of 88.
David Hockney: A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting is an exhibition
| |
