David Hockney: People, Places & Things

First gaining attention in the 1960s Pop era with his brightly colored portraits and landscapes, David Hockney (UK, b. 1937) has remained a constant presence in contemporary art, revisiting and reinterpreting favorite themes over six decades through experimentation with a range of media, from painting and printmaking to theater set design and, more recently, digital media. Hockney is now considered not only one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century but also a key contributor to the art of Los Angeles, his adopted hometown. The Walker has substantial holdings of more than 230 works on paper by Hockney—including paintings, prints, drawings, and works made from pressed paper pulp—dating back to 1961.​

This new exhibition, which covers the full arc of the artist’s career, is divided into four sections:

Section 1: People
This section focuses on individuals who appear in multiple portraits by Hockney: friends, lovers, and family members. Some of his favorite subjects featured in this gallery include the artist’s muse, textile and fashion designer Celia Birtwell; Hockney’s longtime friend and studio manager Gregory Evans; and the late art historian and curator Henry Geldzahler.

Section 2: Things
Hockney has long used the still life as a point of departure for his works. Presented here are examples of floral still lifes and simple elements of interior scenes. Another recurring theme for Hockney, a transplant to Los Angeles, is the swimming pool, which the artist explores through printmaking and large-scale works made from pressed handmade paper pulp.

Section 3: Literature and The Stage
Hockney’s work designing sets for stage and opera productions has been an important part of his artistic activity through the decades, and was the focus of the 1983 Walker exhibition Hockney Paints the Stage. This presentation includes the artist’s tour-de-force set design for Poulenc’s opera Les Mamelles de Tirésias (The Breasts of Tirésias) (1983) as well as graphics inspired by William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.

Section 4: Places
The final section of the show celebrates Hockney’s career-long engagement with the subject of landscape, from the Hollywood Hills to Mexico to Yorkshire, England. The section features large-scale prints depicting the Hotel Romano Angeles in Acatlán, Mexico. Also included is the Walker’s 1983 painting Hollywood Hills House. The artist’s love of the landscape also figures into his more recent explorations of the subject through digital media, such as drawings made with an iPad, and multiscreen video works showing the changing seasons in the Yorkshire woods.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website