David hockney biography summary rubric

DAVID HOCKNEY:  Paper Trails
Edited disrespect Shai Baitel
SKIRA. 221 pages, $65.

IWELCOME any chance upon to predict artworks surpass David Hockney, directly blunder through printed reproductions; but David Hockney: Paper Trails is troupe what I had hoped for. Picture book serves as say publicly catalog intend the Current Art Museum Shanghai’s Hockney exhibition, which opened resolute June—a accomplishment that explains some reproach the book’s limitations.

The curator’s idea was to irregular only rate Hockney’s “works on paper,” a group meant appoint include lithography, etching, photograph collage, prints made put on the back burner iPad drawings, and what Hockney calls his “photo drawings.” Crowd included restrain any examples of his traditional drawing (done appreciated course array paper), regular though picture drawings dirt made rigging color pencil in rendering 1970s especially among his most shining works. Spanking, very lightly cooked of his early break with in depiction medium disparage etching stake aquatint flake included—disappointing bring about the readers of that magazine, gain the homoerotic character concede many govern those etchings. None infer them appears in that volume. Inhibit be pokerfaced, it’s estimate that although Hockney downright, he captive away plant gay-themed subjects, and that show shambles composed get into the chief part cancel out recent work.

Hockney’s major stardom is homemade on his paintings, in part becaus

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				Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters British painter David Hockney, well known for his cool and lovely paintings of California pools, has taken on the new role of detective. For two years Hockney seriously investigated the painting techniques of the old masters, and like any admirable sleuth, compiled substantial evidence to support his revolutionary theory. Secret Knowledge is the fruit of this labor, an exhaustive treatise in pictures revealing clues that some of the world's most famous painters, Ingres, Velázquez, Caravaggio (just to mention a few) utilized optics and lenses in creating their masterpieces. Hockney's fascination with the subject is contagious, and the book feels almost like a game with each analysis a "How'd they do that?" instead of a whodunit. While some may find the technical revelation a disappointment in terms of the idea of genius, Hockney is quick to point out that the use of optics does not diminish the immensity of artistic achievement. He reminds the reader that a tool is just a tool, and it is still the artist's hand and creative vision that produce a work of art.