David Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture has been curated by Edith Devaney of the Royal Academy of Arts, and the independent curator, Marco Livingstone. The installation is a joint collaboration between the Royal Academy, the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, and the Museum Ludwig, Cologne. The Academy is grateful to BNP Paribas, sponsors of this venture.
Highlights of the Exhibition
The display, which features more than 150 works, is the first major UK exhibition to draw attention to Hockney's continuing fascination with the Yorkshire landscape. After living in California for some thirty years, the artist returned to Bridlington, Yorkshire, in 2005. Most of the works on display have been created since that date, but the exhibition also features some of the artist's early work, produced both in the USA and the UK. Hockney's versatility and love of modern technologies is clear from his iPad and iPhone drawings, as well as his film works. The installation includes a number of new films produced using nine or eighteen cameras.
Notable works include A Closer Winter Tunnel February –March 2006. Produced on six separate canvases, the work measures 182.9 x 365.8 cm overall. It is the artist's first use of multiple canvases to create a single scene. Another impressive painting is Woldgate Woods, painted on three dates in November 2006. Again, Hockney used six separate canvases, measuring 182.9 x 365.8 cm overall. According to the artist, every tree in this scene is different. Many of the artist's works are much larger. For example, The Big Hawthorne (2008) was produced on nine canvases, measuring 275.5 x 366 cm overall, and Winter Timber (2009) is even larger. Painted on 15 canvases, the work measures 274.3 x 609.9 cm, and dominates the Royal Academy's main gallery.
Exhibition Catalogue
To record and commemorate the exhibition the Royal Academy has produced a fully-illustrated catalogue. The 304-page publication features essays by David Hockney, Marco Livingstone, Margaret Drabble, Tim Barringer, Martin Gayford and Xavier Salomon. Available in hardback or paperback, further details are available from the Royal Academy of Arts.
Tour Dates
The exhibition will be on view at the Royal Academy of Arts until 9th April 2012. After it closes, it will be on view at the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, from 14th May to 30th September 2012, and at Museum Ludwig, Cologne, from 29th October 2012 to 4th February 2013.
Tickets and further information are available from the Royal Academy of Arts.
Frances Spiegel - Frances Spiegel, B.A. Hons. (Open)., Dip.Eur.Hum., read Art History/European Modern History at the Open University.
