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A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney [Hardcover]

Martin Gayford
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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Book Description

October 24, 2011

A self-portrait of this major artist, told through a wide-ranging series of interviews and conversations with Martin Gayford.

David Hockney’s exuberant work is widely loved and widely praised, but he is also an incisive and original thinker on art. Based on a series of conversations between Hockney and the art critic Martin Gayford, this book distills the essence of the artist’s lifelong meditations on the problems and paradoxes of representing a three-dimensional world on a flat surface.

How does drawing make one “see things clearer and clearer and clearer still”? What significance do differing media, from a Lascaux cave wall to an iPad, have for the images we see? What is the relationship between the images we make and the reality around us? And how can we fully enjoy the pleasures of just looking—at trees, or faces, or sunrises?

These conversations are punctuated by wise and witty observations by both artist and interviewer on many other artists—Vermeer, Tiepolo, Caravaggio, Van Gogh, and Monet among them—and enlivened by shrewd insights into the contrasting social and physical landscapes of California, where Hockney spent so many years, and East Yorkshire, his birthplace, to which he has now returned. 100+ full-color illustrations

Frequently Bought Together

A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney + David Hockney: A Bigger Picture + David Hockney: A Yorkshire Sketchbook
Price for all three: $57.14

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“An erudite writer and a wonderful artist in a book that feels like eavesdropping. It could be a literary painting.” (Washington Independent Book Review )

“…Hockney offers insights into the art of painting, be it on touchscreen or canvas. The book is a walk up to “A Bigger Picture,” the major Hockney show at London’s Royal Academy of Arts.” (Business Week )

“…Hockney offers insights into the art of painting, be it on touchscreen or canvas. The book is a walk up to “A Bigger Picture,” the major Hockney show at London’s Royal Academy of Arts.” (Bloomberg )

“Sumptuously illustrated, this radiant volume encapsulates what it truly means to be a visual artist.” (Booklist )

“Hockney’s comments about drawing and about looking are very useful, not just in understanding his work and career, but also in general.” (Choice )

“In this charming book… the author conveys an awe for the intellect and drive of an artist.” (ARTnews )

About the Author

Martin Gayford is a chief art critic for Bloomberg News. His previous books include The Yellow House and Constable in Love. He lives in England.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 248 pages
  • Publisher: Thames & Hudson; THAMES & HUDSON edition (October 24, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0500238871
  • ISBN-13: 978-0500238875
  • Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A Bigger Balance October 5, 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
What a delightfully written book about an artist who is willing to share so much about himself with the reader. The dialogue is easy and enjoyable to read with the right balance of conversations along with informative facts and illustrations. It is easy to see why Hockney's personna is bigger than his art, no other contemporary artist has studied the science and art of making two dimensional art from the three dimensional world as much as Hockney and then been willing to answer questions about his philosophy and art and also be filmed numerous times while painting makes him perhaps the most revealed and beloved artist of our time. Any book on Hockney becomes dated quickly as he is constantly reinventing his art, this book adds some of his latest endeavors into technology and photography using 9 cameras at the same time to record a scene that earlier would have just used one camera. Wow, what a genius, let's hope he lives and produces for another 20 years!

The reproductions of his work are numerous, but many are too small to be enjoy to their fullest, also the quality of the paper is below most standards for art reproductions but fine for the text and perhaps it is part of the balancing act between the text and images. The dialogue and author's note make for easy and enjoyable reading, the chapters are short making it easy to read several during a break. If you are a Hockney fan and want to see examples of his latest works and thoughts then buy this soon before it sells out like many of his other recent art books.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant book about a brilliant man. October 5, 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Martin Gayford's new book about David Hockney is not a biography, but rather a series of on-going conversations Gayford had with Hockney over a ten or so year period in many locations. Most were at Hockney's house in a secluded area in East Yorkshire, where he moved after having lived in Los Angeles for many years. The conversations, which make up the basis of the book, give full rein to Hockney's endless interest in almost every kind of creative endeavor.

David Hockney is 74 years old and has been immersed in creativity of one sort or another since childhood. He's dabbled in photography, computer graphics, stage design, and many other forms in addition to his well-known paintings. He seems to be constantly asking questions about how and why both living things and art - in all its forms - come to life. The influences of past artists and designers on his work is readily acknowledged by Hockney. He's had a prodigious creative output in the past 55 years and until I read Gayford's book, I never realised how pervasive Hockney's influence has been on current artists. He seems to be an on-going link from past creativity to current and future creativity.

Author Martin Gayford know what questions to ask David Hockney to get the best and most interesting answers. He's a long-time art critic in London and knows artists and their foibles and seems to work with those foibles to make fascinating articles and books. I've read his recent book on Lucien Freud, which was every bit as well-written as this one on David Hockney. For anyone wanting to know more about David Hockney, his genius and the work that flows from that genius, this is a good book to read.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
David Hockney has been making art since the early 1960s - a fact that is difficult to believe as he is still as fresh and creative as ever. Hockney has always enjoyed a romance with the public: his art, ever changing in nature, has always been accessible and representational while pushing the boundaries of the current art tradtitions. Remember the period of the multilayered Polaroid cascades forming scenes of famous people chatting in a room as well as other topics? Those are in museums now, only to be nudged aside by his many other fascinating experiments with the visual arts - such as computer art, magnificent sets for the BIG operas such as 'Tristan und Isolde', 'Turandot', and 'The Magic Flute', simple landscapes of his homes in Los Angeles and in England, brilliant portraits of his parents, famous people, his dachshund, still lifes etc.

Author (or rather co-author as much of the written text is Hockney's own brilliant writing) Martin Gayford has mastered the art of interview and draws form Hockney some profound musings on the 'infinite variety of nature'. The book abounds in Hockney's trademark gracious style as well as in written passages that produce food for thought. All of this is accompanied by an abundance of images from every stage in the long artistic life of this continuing genius. This is more that an art monograph. This is a demonstration of the intellect and drive of an artist who despite being a heavy smoker and being almost deaf, continues to be creatively inexhaustible. The bridge between the eye and the mind is a journey he has mastered and continues to challenge himself and us to look more closely at the world around us. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, December 11
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5.0 out of 5 stars A few very big messages.. March 14, 2013
By Jennae
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Great to get into the mind of a wonderful artist. Written over a long period it really covers, almost incidentally a lot of issues about seeing, drawing and using technology as a new art tool. Also inspirational that an eighty year old can keep up and learn and master new things.
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