I’ve always admired the work of British artist David Hockney. I was lucky enough to have visit the Louis Vuitton Museum in Paris to see the most recent exhibit of Hockney’s work. I have been quite keen on finding out more about the life and work of this extraordinary, prolific figure and have sought out a number of resources to augment my understanding of his talent and to help make a bigger splash on the way I look at art.
A BIGGER MESSAGE: Conversations with DAVID HOCKNEY with Martin Gayford / 2011 / 2025
This illustrated book presents transcripts of a decade and a half of conversations that David Hockney had with Martin Gayford. The transcripts provide comprehensive insights whereby ‘Hockney reveals the fruits of his lifelong meditations on the problems and paradoxes of representing a three-dimensional world on flat surface. (jacket blurb). This book confirms that not only is Hockney an artistic genius but is a wise and witty thinker about the complicated act of creating and of looking. The book is organized under Twenty-six essays with such topics as ‘The Trap of Naturalism’; ‘Scale: a bigger studio’; ‘Painting with memory’; ‘ Drawing on an iPad’; ‘The Arrival of Spring’; ‘Finishing a Picture’. This is a marvellous resource forgetting to know all about tje creative act, the art of looking at art, and the sublime art of, Mr. Hockney I’m grateful to have this book in my collection.
DAVID HOCKNEY 25: Fondation Louis Vuitton / 2025 / Exhibition catalogue
This catalogue is a comprehensive display of the work exhibited in the 2025 exhibition at the Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris. At 305 pages, this coffee table book offers a stunning artifact of Hockney’s output using a variety of media in the past twenty-five years. As expected the colour reproductions are staggering. The text that introduces each section provides useful commentary to enhance the pleasure of understanding Hockney’s evolving style. (e.g., ‘From Bradford to the Hollywood Hills’; ‘Portraits and Flowers’; ‘Hockney Paints the Opera’, ‘The Vindication of Pleasure’, ‘David Hockney’s Yorkshire’, ‘Paintings of Normandy’, “DAVID HOCKNEY: Less is Known than People Think.’. Page by page I am reminded of the voyage through the gallery looking at these brilliant pieces up-close helping me to look and see art – the world – better. This is a coffee table book that I’m sure I will return to again and again, each page filling my should with awe and joy.
DAVID HOCKNEY by James Cahill / 2021 / Biography
This title is one in the “Lives of the Artists” series presenting biographical accounts of the lives of great artists, past and present (i.e. Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Friday Kahlo). Books provide information of the the personal and artistic journeys of these heroes of the art world. This book gave me the story that I needed to understand the timeline, the relationships, highlighting significant examples of Hockney’s extensive work over seven decades. We travel with Hockney back and forth from England to Los Angeles including several trips then worldwide (e.g., Egypt, Italy, France, China) for research. The book not only provides insights into the visionary outlooks, the techniques and technologies in which Hockney immersed himself but appropriately documents Hockney’s friendships, loves and losses. At 136 pages, this is the resource I needed to learn more about this remarkable celebrated life of the artist that I’ve come to be more and more enthralled with. The book also inspired me to further investigate resources to provide additional insights into Hockney’s life and work.
“The world is very very beautiful if you look at it. But most people don’t look very much. They scan the ground in front of them so they can walk, but they don’t look at 5hins incredibly well, with an intensity. I do, and I’ve always known that.” (p. 136) (excerpted from a video recorded in 2021).
DAVID HOCKNEY: A Graphic Novel by Monica Foggia; Giovanni Gastaldi /2025 / graphic biography
The life and journey of the prolific British artist David Hockney is presented in graphic format. The biography highlights Hockney’s artistic journey as a non-conformist student, his life in England, and the United States and his extensive work with portraiture, landscapes and still life as well as his experimental approaches with photography and digital technology. The book gives insights into one of the most unique talents of contemporary art by highlighting his visionary approaches experimenting with a variety of media, his renowned gallery showings worldwide, his friendships and the important value he has as a gay iconic figure.
DAVID HOCKNEY: MY WINDOW, Taschen /2025 / art work
in 2009 David Hockney embarked on using the iPhone to create a series of still life pictures. Hockney was excited to acquire the iPhone in 2010 which thrilled him since it allowed him to draw with a stylus and get more details in the images. My Window is a collection of about 100 pictures of flowers and the sunrise, created in Bridlington, East Yorkshire. I would love to own any one of these floral pieces but aren’t I look to have this little book that delights, thrills and comforts me each time I look through it.
A HISTORY OF PICTURES FOR CHILDREN by David Hockney & Martin Gayford / 2018
This book takes readers, young and old, on a journey through art history, providing insights and knowledge about how pictures help us to understand our world.The two authors shine a light on how artists over time have created new ways of making images. We look at cave paintings, portraits, movie stills, painting, photography computer images and examine the marks, light and shadows, space and reflections that help us think about pictures. Hockney and Gayford serve as tour guides by offering their personal perspectives on each piece informing us about concepts and links from picture to picture to picture.
SIX FAIRY TALES FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY DAVID HOCKNEY / 1970 / 2012
David Hockney created a number of black and white etchings to accompany. a slim collection of six fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. If I didn’t see Hockney’s name on the cover, I probably wouldn’t have known that he was responsible for the art work from early in his career. Looking closely, however, I can detect visages of the artist’s style as I’ve come to recognize (e..g, stylized vegetation, window-framed setting, 2-character portraits presented theatrically). , There is a sort of Edward Gear quality to the characters and setting as Hockney captures the strangeness and supernatural quality of the six familiar and unfamiliar stories: The Little Sea Hare, Fundevogel, Rapunzel, The Boy Who Left Home to Learn Fear, Old Rinkrank, Rumpelstitzchen).
TO SEE CLEARLY: A Portrait of David Hockney by Evan Turk / 2023
Biographies as picture books offer a special realm of children’s literature. Young readers may not choose to read about the life of a famous author, politician, or artist but when a grown-up shares a title with a young reader, they are hoping to provide some information, accomplishments and stories of the life of a well-known figure. To See Clearly relates the inspiring story of David Hockney, one of the art world’s most prolific contemporary talents. Evan Turk does a remarkable job of shining a light on the journey of this extraordinary artist who lead an open gay life, by highlighting the dedication, experimentation and accomplishments this groundbreaking British artist. Using pencil, gouache and crayon Evan Turk’s vibrant art work represents the artist’s visionary style and successfully captures the essence of several of Hockney’s famous pieces. This is a biographical tribute worth sharing, Moreover, the picture book should set the path to investigate and appreciate the extraordinary work by this extraordinary artist.
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO DAVID HOCKNEY / Thames & Hudson / 2020
By presenting over 200 of the artists’s remarks, this book, small in size, is a treasure not only for its ability to convey Hockney’s views as an artist but for its strength to help us think about how we need to see the world around us but how we understand the world of creating art and viewing art. The book is divided into 9 sections with such titles as ‘Hockney on Life’; ‘Hockney on Inspiration’, ‘Hockney on Making Art’. Throughout the book we are blessed with a number of plates that show Hockney’s work at different stages of his career. But really it is Hockney’s words that shine. Some epigrams are amusing, some profound or pithy, but each statement authentically gives insights into the world according to David Hockney.
Here are a handful of favourite quotations that I found to be inspirational:
“On the chest of drawers at the end of my bed, because that’s the first thing I saw when I woke up, I painted ‘Get up and work immediately’. (p. 20)
“It’s good to rest and read.” (p. 47)
“Pictures have been helping us to see for about thirty thousand years.” (p. 63)
“The Chinese say you need three things for paintings: the hand, the eye, the heart. Two won’t do.” (p. 88)
“Teaching someone to draw is teaching them to look.” (p. 98)
“I love life.” (p. 165)
2 DVD’s
A BIGGER SPLASH / 2009
A portrayal of the artist during the multi-year creation of Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) capturing the lingering affair between Hockney and his muse, Peter Schlesinger.
DAVID HOCKNEY A BIGGER PICTURE / 1974
An intimate portrait of the artist as he returns to paint in his native Yorkshire