David Hockney A Bigger Picture

This vital new book A Bigger Picture, is published to accompany the exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, 21 January - 9 April 2012.

David Hockney has always been closely associated with Pop Art and California, where he has lived for much of his life but this major study of his work redefines him as an important painter of the English countryside, presenting his recent landscapes for the first time. In an attempt to renew contemporary art, Hockney has returned to painting in the open air, observing with honesty and intensity the scenery of his childhood in East Yorkshire.

Co-curator of the exhibition Marco Livingstone explores this bold departure in the context of Hockney’s sixty-year career, while other contributors address the artist’s place in the landscape tradition, his recent video works and their relationship to English landscape film-making, and his ongoing use of new technologies.