True to Life: Twenty-Five Years of Conversations with David Hockney [Paperback]

Lawrence Weschler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 26, 2009

Soon after the book's publication in 1982, artist David Hockney read Lawrence Weschler's Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: A Life of Contemporary Artist Robert Irwin and invited Weschler to his studio to discuss it, initiating a series of engrossing dialogues, gathered here for the first time. Weschler chronicles Hockney's protean production and speculations, including his scenic designs for opera, his homemade xerographic prints, his exploration of physics in relation to Chinese landscape painting, his investigations into optical devices, his taking up of watercolor--and then his spectacular return to oil painting, around 2005, with a series of landscapes of the East Yorkshire countryside of his youth. These conversations provide an astonishing record of what has been Hockney's grand endeavor, nothing less than an exploration of "the structure of seeing" itself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Weschler, as an art scholar and staff writer for The New Yorker, had the opportunity not only to observe David Hockney's artistic progress over 30 years, but to maintain a personal, decades-long dialogue with the multi-talented artist. Hockney's quest for the perfect perspective has led him to test the limits of painting, photography and photo-collage; he believes that Cubist paintings come far closer than photography to reproducing the perspective of the human eye, leading him to experiment with photography through a Cubist lens and, later, to stage-designing and directing for the opera (Weschler describes his Tristan and Isolde as "Beethoven meets Matisse"). Hockney is a fascinating and surprising character, claiming that the stakes are no less than "the utter subversion of the tyrannical hegemony of traditional one-point perspective," but also grounded enough to declare, "if art isn't playful, it's nothing." The mutual fondness between author and subject comes through in long passages from Hockney detailing his ever-evolving process, the importance of Cubism and other digressions that would test the patience of less confident or invested interviewers; thankfully, Weschler rewards his readers with lengthy quotes, an overwhelming wealth of knowledge and a lively narrative style. 100 b&w illus., 60 color photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Aside from being a terrific writer, Weschler is clearly a great listener and interviewer."--San Diego Union-Tribune

"Weschler rewards his readers with lengthy quotes, an overwhelming wealth of knowledge and a lively narrative style." (Starred Review)--Publishers Weekly

"'Seeing Is Forgetting' and 'True to Life' are not only about the artists talking to Weschler or, through him, to each other; they're about the artists talking to themselves."--Los Angeles Times Book Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (January 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520258797
• ISBN-13: 978-0520258792
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #266,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deep and interesting conversations about art and perception, January 3, 2009

By 

T. Halkowski - See all my reviews
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This review is from: True to Life: Twenty-Five Years of Conversations with David Hockney (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book, consisting largely of conversations between the writer Lawrence Weschler & the artist David Hockney. Through these dialogues they jointly explore aspects of the phenomenology of perception, and the ways in which various media (painting, drawing, photography), as well as improvements in optical technology (the camera obscura, and the camera lucida) literally change our sense of what looks 'normal' or 'real.'

Thus this book (with beautiful photos of Hockney's drawings, paintings, collages, etc.) is not simply a contribution to art criticism, but also to art history, and to the broader study of the technical, historical and cultural factors that shape representation. In this manner, this book contributes to some rather deep discussions in the realm of 'media ecologies,' as developed by Walter Ong.

If all the above makes the book seem like a dusty tome, forgive me. The book is - via its conversational structure - a delight and pleasure to read. The reader is made to feel present in the artist's Hollywood Hills studio, listening in on an amazing co-exploration.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars David Hockney Thinks!, November 7, 2009

By 

W. David Peacock (Santa Barbara, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: True to Life: Twenty-Five Years of Conversations with David Hockney (Paperback)

Lots and lots of Hockney's ideas on art. I was gratified that Hockney thinks abstract art is a dead end.
Though the artist's who explored abstract art forced it to work by their sincerity.

It is refreshing to find an artist, like Hockney, who is so articulate about his art and ideas.

Weschler does an excellent job putting together decades of conversations.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hockney review, January 19, 2009

By 

Ann Reynolds - See all my reviews
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This review is from: True to Life: Twenty-Five Years of Conversations with David Hockney (Paperback)

This is a remarkable book not just about the artist but about seeing and the history of painting