David Hockney鈥檚 world vibrates in living color
In Paris, two magnificent spectacles have been wowing crowds this summer: the gloriously renovated Notre Dame Cathedral, and a joyous retrospective of British artist David Hockney鈥檚 work at the Louis Vuitton Foundation museum, 鈥淒avid Hockney 25.鈥� 聽
Fortunately for those who can鈥檛 make the show, which closes Aug. 31, a beautiful, coffee-table-sized art book,聽鈥淒avid Hockney,鈥� edited by Norman Rosenthal, captures much of the visual delight of the artist鈥檚 largest exhibition to date, which centers on his output over the past 25 years.聽
Hockney, who is one of the most popular artists of his time, is best known for paintings of sun-drenched California, which he called his 鈥減romised land鈥� after arriving in Los Angeles from London in 1964. With brightly hued swimming-pool paintings like 鈥淎 Bigger Splash,鈥� which is included in the Paris show and in the book, his early work captured not only optimism and freedom but also yearning and a touch of melancholy.聽
Why We Wrote This
British painter David Hockney鈥檚 work conveys an openness to new ways of seeing the world. In a glorious coffee-table-sized art book, images of his recent pictures demonstrate the full flowering of his 60-year career.
The Paris exhibition confirms that Hockney鈥檚 work is both innovative and exuberant. Prominent among the more than 400 works displayed are landscapes that celebrate nature, including boldly colored quilts of rolling farmland and delicately green-shaded groves of trees in Yorkshire, England, and Normandy, France.聽
A series of 23 exquisitely expressive charcoal drawings from 2013 heralds the advent of spring on Woldgate Road in East Yorkshire, near where the artist was born in 1937, and showcases his remarkable range. 聽
Other treats of the show include a recent animated video that Hockney overlaid on images of his 1980s set designs for opera productions. Several new, previously聽unexhibited paintings are also on display 鈥� a 2023 self-portrait and two paintings titled 鈥淟ess Is Known Than People Think,鈥� one inspired by a drawing by Edvard Munch, the other by William Blake鈥檚 illustrations.聽 聽
One of the many joys of Hockney鈥檚 art is spotting his references to masterpieces from different eras and painters.
I first became enamored with his work in London鈥檚 Tate gallery when I was a teenager. I happened upon his painting 鈥淢r and Mrs Clark and Percy鈥� (1971), and it so intrigued me that I visited it repeatedly. I didn鈥檛 know then that the nearly life-size double portrait of the artist鈥檚 newly married (and soon to be divorced) friends 鈥� fashion designer Ossie Clark and textile designer Celia Birtwell 鈥� with their white cat was inspired by both 15th-century Flemish painter Jan van Eyck鈥檚 鈥淭he Arnolfini Portrait鈥� and 18th-century artist William Hogarth鈥檚 鈥淎 Rake鈥檚 Progress.鈥� Nor did I realize that Hockney had broken with wedding-portrait convention by painting the bride standing and the groom seated.聽
I also had no inkling that over the next 50 years, I would make a point of seeing Hockney鈥檚 shows whenever I could: in London, New York, Los Angeles, and Paris.聽
It has been an abiding pleasure to track this artist鈥檚 evolution through his themes: beloved landscapes; trees captured in various states of dress and undress in all seasons and weather; unsparing self-portraits that confront aging; and kinder portraits of his inner circle of friends over the years.
The exhibition and book make it clear how much of Hockney鈥檚 work is inspired by his favorite artists 鈥� including 鈥淔our Dancers鈥� (2018), after Henri Matisse, and multiple paintings of hay bales and sunflowers that evoke Vincent Van Gogh. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Hockney has focused in the past 25 years on the English and French countrysides rather than on social or political issues.
Hockney has always been an innovator and pathbreaker 鈥� and, well into his 80s, he still is. He started using technology, including office photocopiers and聽computer-drawing software, to enhance his work in the late 1980s, and was an early adopter of iPhones and iPads as artistic tools.聽
He has long been interested in employing inventive and often tricky reverse perspectives as a way of including the viewer in a work of art. Digital technology has allowed him to play with this on a larger scale, and I was happy to see that the book includes two of his more mind-boggling works from 2018: In 鈥淧ictures at an Exhibition,鈥� a group of people sits on wooden folding chairs in a large exhibition space, chatting and gazing at four of Hockney鈥檚 nine-part, brightly colored, geometric paintings. 鈥淧ictured Gathering With Mirror鈥� depicts the same people facing a mirror instead of Hockney鈥檚 paintings 鈥� resulting in simultaneous frontal and rear views of them, which Hockney achieved by photographing his subjects from multiple perspectives and then making digital composites. In both pieces, Hockney, the master illusionist, leans against a wall.
In 2020, during the pandemic lockdowns, Hockney produced a series of 220 iPad paintings of spring as it unfolded in Normandy. These were published as the book 鈥�220 for 2020,鈥� with the uplifting reminder: 鈥淒o remember they can鈥檛 cancel the spring.鈥� New iPad drawing apps and Photoshop have also enabled him, with the help of his partner, Jean-Pierre Gon莽alves de Lima, and his assistant, Jonathan Wilkinson, to produce 鈥淎 Year in Normandy鈥� (2020), a monumental frieze inspired by the medieval Bayeux Tapestry, a 230-foot-long depiction of the Norman conquest of England.聽
What鈥檚 the key to Hockney鈥檚 enormous popularity? Bernard Arnault, president of the Louis Vuitton Foundation, writes in an introduction to the book that Hockney exudes optimism. Suzanne Pag茅, the foundation鈥檚 artistic director, touts the artist鈥檚 curiosity: 鈥淲ith his unique ability to marvel at the simplest things,鈥� she writes, 鈥淗ockney becomes a vector of happiness as soon as he picks up a brush, a pencil, or a tablet.鈥澛�
For me, whether it鈥檚 the winding purple road in 鈥淕arrowby Hill鈥� (1998 and 2017) or the enormous, showstopping 鈥淏igger Trees Near Warter or/ou Peinture sur le Motif Pour le Nouvel Age Post-Photographique鈥� (2007), a patchwork of 50 canvases painted from multiple perspectives, his work conveys an exciting openness to new ways of seeing the world.聽
By zeroing in on what makes Hockney happy, this retrospective pulses with life, jumping off the walls (and pages). Viewers feel included and embraced. It鈥檚 an achievement worth celebrating.聽
