A special commemorative 50th-anniversary edition of the humorous, candid and revealing account of David Hockney’s life and work. First published in 1976, «David Hockney by David Hockney» grew out of twenty-five hours of recorded conversations with the artist. This carefully designed, collaborative memoir, presented here in a special full-colour edition, marks the book’s 50th anniversary. Hockney recounts his early years in Bradford, where he was born, grew up and first attended art school; his time at the Royal College of Art in London, during which he first found recognition; his stay in California, which inspired some of his best-known paintings, drawings and prints; and his later period in Paris, where an exhibition at the Louvre established him as a “continental master”. The book’s appeal lies not only in the fact that the text is entirely his own, giving his life story complete clarity, but also in its reproductions of his paintings, prints and drawings. Presented in roughly chronological order, the story is informative and humorous, filled with descriptions of his work, anecdotes about himself, other artists and friends, his thoughts on art, and his ambivalent relationship with other styles. Above all, it is the story of an artist continually striving to improve his craft and to portray the world around him with imagination.
