David Hockney

by Paul Melia, Ulrich Luckhardt

This consideration of Hockney's work from 1960 to the early nineties dispels myths and opens up new lines of inquiry concerning his contributions to post-modern art. Filled with beautiful colour plates of his paintings, the book draws on extensive research and the artist's personal archives. In a broad chronological format, the book reveals the major phases in Hockney's oeuvre: his early years as a student at the Royal College of Art in London and his ironic experimentation with different styles of painting; his images of life in southern California; his highly personal portraits and their studies in perspective; his reinterpretations of modernist paintings; and his forays into photo-collage. The authors' incisive commentary reveals how Hockney's paintings question, parody and undermine accepted ideas about modern art, while forcing us to reconsider our assumptions about originality and creativity.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1995

Reviews

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad I read this because Hockney's work is more diverse than I had realized. I was struck by how conscious and intellectual his approach is, and how much he pursued a connection with many art styles which preceded him. I gather from the introduction that Hockney has a reputation as a "popular" artist rather than a serious one, and the book certainly convinces me of his seriousness and contributions to the world of art (not that I personally had doubted it).

The best aspect of the book are the color plates, which are vibrant, though there is a challenge to capture a ten-foot painting in a book which a bit under 10x8 inches. Unfortunately, there are also a large number of two-inch square black and white reproductions and these border on useless given their lack of color and small size.

The authors state in the introduction that the book is "not intended for academics." Could have fooled me! Pictures are analyzed in a structural and detailed way, and the prose is so stiff and complex that I am afraid much of it baffled me.

It's also frustrating to read this book because the text is often several pages away from the plate it is describing. I spent a lot of time flipping back and forth. But I suppose there is no way around this, especially when the color plates are full-page. Still, it would have been preferable to have them on the page following the text, rather than frequently many pages away from it.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

From this monograph I learned that David Hockney is a more conceptual artist than I realized. He has always been preoccupied with problems of perspective, but also, in his early years, with styles and periods of art. The color plates in this are good, but unfortunately the format is too small. On the other hand the small format probably afforded the reasonable price. The narrative is ok, but somewhat dry and confusing. A critic's perspective is lacking.