David Hockney: 82 Portraits and 1 Still–life

This beautifully illustrated book, which accompanies the much anticipated exhibition David Hockney: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-life at the Royal Academy, documents Hockney’s work in portraiture, giving a unique insight into his working method from first to last mark.

Publication brings together the recent body of work by David Hockney, perhaps the most popular and versatile British artist of the last century. Following his sweeping exploration of landscape in the Royal Academy’s galleries in 2012, this focused display will look exclusively at the portraits he has been painting in the last few years – the subjects of which are friends, family and art-world luminaries.

After the sad events that touched his life in 2012, Hockney had stopped painting altogether. His move from Yorkshire to California coincided with his decision to revisit acrylic paints and bold colours. Vibrant, observant and full of life, these portraits mark a return to vivid, Technicolor form.

Incisive text from Tim Barringer places these works within Hockney’s development as a portrait painter, while curator Edith Devaney interviews the artist about the series, which he describes as ‘twenty-hour exposures’, in reference to the time each portrait takes to paint. The book will show the stages of each painting, from first to last mark, to give the reader a unique insight into Hockney’s working method.