Named a Best Book of the Year by The Advocate “Catherine Cusset’s book caught a lot of me. I could recognize myself.” —David Hockney With clear, vivid prose, this meticulously researched novel draws an intimate, moving portrait of the most famous living English painter. Born in 1937 in a small town in the north of England, David Hockney had to fight to become an artist. After leaving his home in Bradford for the Royal College of Art in London, his career flourished, but he continued to struggle with a sense of not belonging, because of his homosexuality, which had yet to be decriminalized, and his inclination for a figurative style of art not sufficiently “contemporary” to be valued. Trips to New York and California—where he would live for many years and paint his iconic swimming pools—introduced him to new scenes and new loves, beginning a journey that would take him through the fraught years of the AIDS epidemic. A compelling hybrid of novel and biography, Life of David Hockney offers an insightful overview of a painter whose art is as accessible as it is compelling, and whose passion to create has never been deterred by heartbreak or illness or loss.

David Hockney (b. 1937) is one of the most significant artists exploring and pushing the boundaries of figurative art today. Hockney has been engaged with portraiture since his teenage years, when he painted Portrait of My Father (1955), and his self-portraits and depictions of family, lovers, and friends represent an intimate visual diary of the artist’s life. This beautifully illustrated book examines Hockney’s portraits in all media—painting, drawing, photography, and prints—and has been produced in close collaboration with the artist. Featured subjects include members of Hockney’s family and private circle, as well as portraits of such artists and cultural figures as Lucian Freud, Francesco Clemente, R. B. Kitaj, Helmet Newton, Lawrence Weschler, and W. H. Auden. The authors reveal how Hockney’s creative development and concerns about representation can be traced through his portrait work: from his battle with naturalism to his experimentation with and later rejection of photography, and from his recent camera lucida drawings to his return to painting from life. Featuring more than 250 works from the past fifty years, David Hockney Portraits illustrates not only the fascinating range of Hockney’s creative practice but also the unique and cyclical nature of his artistic concerns.

At the beginning of 2020, just as global Covid-19 restrictions were coming into force, the artist David Hockney was at his house, studio and garden in Normandy. From there, he witnessed the arrival of spring, and recorded the blossoming of the surrounding landscape on his iPad, a method of drawing he has been using for over a decade. Drawing outdoors was an antidote to the anxiety of the moment for Hockney - 'We need art, and I do think it can relieve stress,' he says. This uplifting publication - produced to accompany a major exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts - includes 116 of his new iPad drawings and shows to full effect Hockney's singular skill in capturing the exuberance of nature.00Exhibition: Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (27.03-22.08.2021).

Meet the Artist ... become an artist. Welcome to the wonderful world of David Hockney! This book is jam-packed with inspiring activities and ideas for budding young artists. Create bright and colourful landscapes, phtocollages and draw portraits of your friends and family.

Accompanying one of the most anticipated exhibitions of the past few years, this catalogue captures the grand scale and vibrant color of Hockney's work of the twenty-first century. Hockney's own insight into this latest chapter of his career is found across the book's pages and is accompanied by thoughtful commentary by renowned critic Lawrence Weschler and art historian Sarah Howgate.

Hockney's work is characterized by an underlying seriousness of purpose, as this fresh appraisal of the artist's oeuvre clearly demonstrates.

David Hockney is as fascinating as he is articulate on ways of seeing, and in this impressive book he leads us on an artistic journey where anything is possible. He considers the influence of Picasso and Rembrandt and speaks of Eastern conventions and perspective and of their relevance to his work. He points to Laurel and Hardy's lasting appeal in his conviction that popularity and art are not incompatible. Hockney and his work have long been the subjects of controversy; few twentieth century artists have so successfully surmounted their cult image for three decades, and he remains one of our most relentlessly dedicated, versatile and original painters.