R.I.P. David Hockney

When I heard of the death of David Hockney yesterday, I immediately ditched my planned series for today so I could replace it with a tribute.  Openly gay from the very beginning of his career in the early 1960s, he pushed back against a lot of barriers.  One art critic even said he restored the human form to modern art, and his portrayals of gay men were groundbreaking.  The 1969 photo above by John Kasmin shows Mr. Hockney (left0 with Ossie Clark and Patrick Proktor near St. Tropez, France.

The art world and the gay world have lost a giant.

 

Man in Shower

This is Man in Shower, Beverly Hills.

 

Mo Asleep

Here we see Mo Asleep from 1971.

 

Peter Powis

Mr. Hockney did this drawing of Peter Powis in 1967.

 

Poster

This is a poster for a 1968 gallery show in Berlin of Mr. Hockney's prints.

 

California

David Hockney first visited California in 1964, and it immediately influenced his work.  This acrylic painting on canvas was made the following year, and is considered pioneering in style.

 

Warhol

Fellow artist Andy Warhol took this photo of David Hockney.

 

Gregory

The model here is known only as Gregory, and he posed for several of David Hockney's drawings.

 

Robert

This one is Roger, New York from 1975.

 

Los Angeles

Although he called this one Nude Boy, Los Angeles, the conventional wisdom is

that all of David Hockney's models were of legal age when they posed.

 

Tighty Whities

This tighty whities item is a bit enigmatic.  I can't tell if the guy

 being held up is injured, drunk, or something else.

 

Mapplethorpe

Closing the David Hockney series with a photo of him yawning by Robert Mapplethorpe.

The striped tie and dressy casual look were part of his his trademark style.

R.I.P., Mr. Hockney.  You broke though some big cultural walls.

 

David Hockney Day

It's been over a year since I did a David Hockney series, so here's the second one.

Above is a photo I find absolutely charming and below is a self portrain from near the same time.

 

1963

We start the art show with the earlies David Hockney work I could find,

"Standing Nude with Cigarette" from 1963.  It looks unfinished to me,

but this is probably the way it was intended all along.

 

Nap Time

This one is called "The Room, Tarzana."

 

Illlustration

David Hockney did this 1966 drawing as an illustration 

for "Fourteen Poems" by C.P. Cavafy.

 

1975

Mr. Hockney took an occasional turn at photography.  In this example 

from 1975 we can see him and his camera in the bathroom mirror.

 

Richard, Jim, and Felix

 These three are Richard Neville, Jim Anderson, and Felix Dennis

in a 1971 offset lithograph by David Hockney.

1965

I recall reading somewhere that David Hockney was so impressed by the sheer number of swimming pools he saw on his first visit to LA that he went into a series of pool themed paintings.  This one is from 1965, probably one of the earliest, but I'm not sure.

 

David and Mo

Here we have David and Mo from 1966.