Born in 1937 in Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, David Hockney is without a doubt the most recognisable name in the British Visual Arts movement. Over a long and impressive career he has shifted between mediums with great success but painting has remained a core part of his work.
His first artistic education took place at Bradford College of Art following which he enrolled at the Royal College of Art in London, spending some time studying under the influential American Pop Artist, Ronald Brooks Kitaj (R. B. Kitaj). It’s here that his Pop Art education began but his first exhibited works owed more to expressionism that anything else, his most famous work from this period being the stunning We Two Boys Clinging Together (1961).
We Two Boys Together Clinging, 1961
From 1963, Hockney was represented by the contemporary Pop Art dealer John Kasmin who advised him to go to America. It was in New York in 1963 that he made contact with Andy Warhol and one can assume he met Warhol’s Pop Art movement contemporaries at the same time. A follow up trip to California led to a stay of 17 years during which he embarked on one of his most recognisable series of paintings – the set of work featuring swimming pools in realistic and bold colours which defined his Pop Art career of that era.
John Kasmin by David Hockney
In the late 1960s, Hockney began to take an interest in photography which, for a while, threatened to eclipse his love of painting; for a time he even stopped painting to concentrate on this new path but eventually began to paint again. Stage sets for ballet and opera have been another successful venture for Hockney, as has magazine covers for publications such as Vogue (when the magazine wants something a little different).
Hockney's Vogue cover
David Hockney is still working prolifically today and has continued to utilise new technologies. Recent years have seen him work with iPhone and iPad applications to create a large amount of portraits. Hockney is without doubt one of the most influential British Pop Artists of all time.
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