From Book News, Inc.
The series provides critically-informed texts which utilize current research and a wide range of approaches to survey and analyze subjects studied widely in art history courses. The present critical introduction offers a range of approaches to understanding particular moments or themes in the oeuvre of renowned British artist Hockney (b.1937), from a focused study of a single painting to the analysis of an entire phase in the artist's career. Numerous b&w figures and 19 excellent color plates. Distributed by St. Martin's Press. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.


Book Description
One of the most widely acclaimed of all living artists, David Hockney has, in some ways, been the victim of his own popularity. Frequently interpreted as the lightweight expression of a colorful personality, his work is characterized by an underlying seriousness of purpose. This emerges with particular clarity from the fresh appraisal of the artist's oeuvre offered in this book, now available in paperback for the first time. Each of the volume's six chapters, broadly chronological in sequence, is introduced by an essay that examines in depth certain aspects of Hockney's artistic practice. The complexity of his seemingly straightforward imagery is further elucidated in the commentaries accompanying each of the sixty-three carefully selected color plates. These encompass the period from 1960-1993, from work produced during the artist's student days at the Royal College of Art in London to his most recent paintings, enriched through his experiences of designing for the stage and by his experiments with photo-collage and fax art. Several lesser known and rarely reproduced paintings are included in this volume in full color together with numerous black-and-white illustrations of related works. Together these provide important reference material. An illustrated chronology and a selected bibliography conclude this lucid, authoritative account of Hockney's development. With access to the artist's personal archives, the authors dispel certain myths about Hockney's work and open up new lines of enquiry. Intended for the general reader, this book will also be of interest to all students of modern painting and to admirers of one of its most appealing exponents.


From the Publisher
Although many will not be familiar with the great artists included in this volume, Caspar David Friedrich, Lovis Corinth, and Max Klinger are well-known names whose works form the core of the permenant collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Liepzig, Germany. The 84 paintings here reproduced in this sumptuously illustrated volume provide a rare opportunity to learn about these masters and their influence, especially between 1840 and 1880, when Germany had a profound impact on artistic life in America.

ANNOTATION

David Hockney is the most widely discussed and well-documented artist of his generation. This is the first book to present a clear, critical analysis of the key developments of Hockney's work over the past 30 years. 20 color and 100 b&w illus.

FROM THE CRITICS

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