WULOLIFE
Spring Will Come: David Hockney in Normandy by David Hockney/Martin Gayford
Spring Will Come: David Hockney in Normandy by David Hockney/Martin Gayford
Couldn't load pickup availability
Description
Introduction · · · · · ·
“We’ve lost touch with nature, which is pretty stupid because we’re part of it, not outside of it. Sooner or later this will be over, and then what? What have we learned from it? … The only real things in life are food and love, in that order, just like our dog Ruby … The source of art is love. I love life.”
——David Hockney
At the age of 80, David Hockney first sought the quiet of rural life, a place to watch the sunrise and the changing of seasons, a place to shut out the madness of the world. So when the coronavirus and lockdown hit, life in the "Big Garden" changed very little, and a year ago Hockney set up his studio in a historic farmhouse in Normandy to paint the spring solstice. In fact, he took pleasure in the enforced isolation, seeing it as an opportunity to redouble his commitment to art.
Spring Will Come is a rousing manifesto that attests to art's power to divert and inspire. It is based on extensive new conversations and correspondence between Hockney and the art critic Martin Gayford, his longtime friend and collaborator. Their exchanges are complemented by a series of new, unpublished iPad drawings and paintings Hockney made in Normandy, as well as masterpieces by Van Gogh, Monet, Bruegel and others.
We can see how Hockney is driven by his infectious enthusiasm and sense of wonder. He has lived a life of contradictions, in the public eye for 60 years, but absent from the critics and history. He is completely absorbed by his four acres of land in northern France, and by the themes that have fascinated him for decades: light, color, space, perception, water, trees. He has much to teach us, not only about how to see... but also about how to live.
About the Author · · · · · ·
David Hockney is perhaps one of the most watched and popular artists of our time. His works cover almost all media, from oil painting, sketching, stage design to photography and printmaking. And he has expanded on these media. He is the author of the best-selling book "Hidden Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Skills of Western Painting Masters", which was also introduced and published by Zhejiang People's Fine Arts Publishing House.
Martin Gayford is an art critic and contributor to The Spectator. He has published critically acclaimed books on Van Gogh, Constable and Michelangelo. He has co-authored a book on art with David Hockney, and a travelogue and conversation with Felipe de Montebello, all published by Thames & Hudson Ltd.
