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David Hockney

Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters Hardcover – October 29, 2001

by David Hockney (Author)

4.7 252 ratings

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Presents detailed theories on how some of art's most famous masterpieces, including works by da Vinci, Caravaggio, Velâazquez, and Van Eyck, were actually created, and discusses the reaction to the author's speculations.

Print length

296 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Viking Studio
Publication date

October 29, 2001
Dimensions

9.8 x 1.25 x 12.2 inches
ISBN-10

0670030260
ISBN-13

978-0670030262
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

British painter David Hockney, well known for his cool and lovely paintings of California pools, has taken on the new role of detective. For two years Hockney seriously investigated the painting techniques of the old masters, and like any admirable sleuth, compiled substantial evidence to support his revolutionary theory. Secret Knowledge is the fruit of this labor, an exhaustive treatise in pictures revealing clues that some of the world's most famous painters, Ingres, Velázquez, Caravaggio (just to mention a few) utilized optics and lenses in creating their masterpieces. Hockney's fascination with the subject is contagious, and the book feels almost like a game with each analysis a "How'd they do that?" instead of a whodunit. While some may find the technical revelation a disappointment in terms of the idea of genius, Hockney is quick to point out that the use of optics does not diminish the immensity of artistic achievement. He reminds the reader that a tool is just a tool, and it is still the artist's hand and creative vision that produce a work of art. (296 pages, 460 illustrations, 402 in color.) --J.P. Cohen

About the Author

David Hockney was born in England in 1937 and studied at the Royal College of Art. He achieved international acclaim by his mid-twenties as part of the pop art movement and has gone on to become one of the best known artists of his generation.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking Studio; 1st edition (October 29, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0670030260
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0670030262
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.8 x 1.25 x 12.2 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,034,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #214 in Oil Painting
- #3,620 in Arts & Photography Criticism
- #4,997 in Art History (Books)

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4.7 252 ratings

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Ralph Curton Jr

This book is one of the highest quality books I’ve ever read or seen

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2023

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The VISUALs are EXTRAORDINARY and the written presentation was incredibly informative !!!

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W. Wick

a photographer/art lovers perspective

Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2003

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In recent trips to Europe, I've had the good fortune to see many of the actual paintings reproduced in Secret Knowledge. And as a photographer who has spent years staring at projected images on the ground glass of an 8x10 camera, an optical projection is the last thing that came to mind when I looked at those paintings.

It's true that some of the paintings look like photographs. In some cases, as with Van Eyck's paintings for instance, faces have the translucent quality of real flesh. But it's a mistake to assume, as Hockney does, that a painting that has the "look" of a photograph is evidence that camera optics were involved. Realism and fine detail in a painting would more plausibly pass as evidence that painters observed their subjects directly, not by tracing optical projections, or more specifically, optical projections made with primitive, long focal length lenses. Such projections have extremely poor depth of field and very low resolution. The so called Flemish "primitive" paintings have astonishing detail, images projected from primitive lenses do not.

Hockney points to the "perfect" perspective of some paintings as evidence of optics, but many of Hockney's examples are paintings that have imperfect perspectives. So he then proceeds to devise far-fetched explanations of how such distortions could be evidence of optics. Thus, according to Hockney's convoluted logic, both perfect perspective and distorted perspectives are evidence of the use of optics.

When we finally get to see projections that Hockney makes with a convex mirror, the poor resolution is notable. Curiously, after many pages of referring to the "optical look" of paintings, Hockney marvels at the "painterly look" of his optical projections. Indeed, his projections compare favorably with a still life by Chardin, an eighteenth century artists known for his "painterly" brushwork.

We also see Hockney tracing a man's portrait from a projected image (Hockney draws in a darkened room while his subject sits outside squinting in bright sunlight so the projected image will be bright enough to see). The result is a drawing, not a painting. And most of that drawing is filled in with details drawn by Hockney observing his subject directly.

Hockney never discusses painting technique - the importance of oils, brushes, glazes, surface preparations or any other technical matters relevant to applying paint to canvas. If paintings are primary documents, surely the paint, and how it was applied to the substrate, has some bearing on the "secret techniques "of the old masters. But to Hockney it's all optics -fuzzy logic as seen through a fuzzy lens.

71 people found this helpful

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Ken Mora

Amazing Detective Work!

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2002

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It's not every contemporary artist who rewrites the history of modern painting, and pushes back the use of the Artist's lens to the Renaissance.
Hockney has changed the way we will consider the paintings of the old masters, and the historical basis for the newest art of our times.
The amazing thing is, that we've all looked at these same paintings, seen the same clues, perhaps even had the same alarm bells go off in our heads, but we allow inquiries to be stifled by accepeted art historical explanations. That is, until David Hockey applied the reason and passion for observation that only an artist can bring to the subject.
The book's arguments are beutifully illustrated, first visually, using the artworks themselves as historical documentation. Next with scholary reasearch whose meaning, in light of Hockney's visual arguments, brings the correspondence and criticism of the time into sharp focus. And finally, and most lively, you get to see the artist's theory evolve in the form of correspondence with scientists and scholars of today discussing cutting edge technological examinations of the old masterworks previously illustrated.
Quite simply, a MUST READ book!
- Ken Mora
kenmora.com

19 people found this helpful

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Imagardener

a book that every artist should read

Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2010

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Love it,love it, love it!

I will be re-reading this book for many years. Mr. Hockney has done Art a huge service through his investigation and experimentation to help us understand more about the craft as well as the art of painting and drawing. I hope he gets knighted for it if he isn't already.
It is truly a scholarly work with the excitement of a mystery.

One of the best parts is that he is unafraid to make bold statements that a lesser person would be hooted down for by the "establishment". Bravo to him. Bravery comes in many forms and this is a brave book.

If you love art and seek a deeper understanding of how it has evolved you must read this book.

LOTS of photographs, LOTS of illustrations and step by step explanations of his theories. More books should be written this way, especially art books. Many artists seem to be unable to explain themselves, perhaps their minds don't work in that way. Thank goodness Hockney was blessed with both fully functioning right and left brains.

7 people found this helpful

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Supi

Very interesting reading

Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2021

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David Hockney takes you through his premise that something happened. Wonderful collection of pictures of paintings to prove his premise from point A to point B... so forth. A great read for any artist and art history buff.

One person found this helpful

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MA

like a Picasso

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2017

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This David Hockney's book ‘Secret knowledge’ has been published in 2001. During these 16 years, his suggestion – examination, research and assessment have spread widely, for example, through BBC – YouTube. According to him, during beginning of lens-mirror, Camera obscura and Camera lucida, that is, from beginning of optics technology to beginning of photography technology, 1430-1839. Then masters age had have gone. He goes on, from 1870 to 1930　is Impressionism and Cubism age, and after 1970 is Computer manipulation age. But after consideration, in philosophy Heidegger deconstructed traditional philosophy and in visual art Hockney deconstructed masters' secret knowledge. On the contrary, I think it will become a free style art that hand draws, like a Picasso, like a Basquiat, like a children.

2 people found this helpful

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j n bell

Interesting technique exploration for those of us missing a strong grounding in art history

Reviewed in Germany on November 23, 2018

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I didn't realise that this was almost an academic treaty when I bought it but nonetheless found the discussion of optics across art history interesting and made me feel less guilty about using cameras and computers on my own work! Lots of nice pictures and discussions of some European classics if, like me, you are missing an art history background

kim

Eye opening regarding classical painters.

Reviewed in Australia on May 11, 2023

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This is a great book that explains quite logically, how artists achieved photo realism in past centuries. It also lifts the veil of guilt from artists who use technology to transfer images today.

pfvll

ENVY AND JEALOUSY

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 4, 2012

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The art world is well known for the prevalence of jealousy and envy among artists for the more successful among them. It's understandable, as many hard working, highly skilled artists are ignored while others, equally or even less skilled, become world famous, either by accident or because of superior marketing skills. For example, one often STILL reads that Picasso or Dali could not draw or even paint "properly", in spite of the fact that several world-travelled exhibitions of their works have featured early drawings and paintings by both artists showing draughtsmanship skills of the highest order and the ability to produce skilful representational paintings. In both cases, however, as they grew up and developed, they chose to take a different path and be judged by the results. Hockney has joined this exclusive group and produces uniquely stylised paintings, instantly recognisable, only because of the skills acquired in his classic training in drawing and painting, honed by hard work, dedication and long experience.

Life is unfair. Hockney has become a National Treasure, because he is an excellent artist, but also, perhaps, because he has not only survived to a ripe old age but achieved "grumpy but lovable old fart" status. Yet many of his contemporaries, equally skilled, are completely unknown or known only to a few knowledgable fellow artists.

Of course Hockney can draw. Anyone who says he cannot draw or paint "properly" is either blinded by professional jealousy or simply does not know what he is talking about. There is ample evidence on record in his published work. His teenage paintings and drawings show ample evidence of a great artist in the making. His few representational portraits, throughout his career, as well as many conventional pencil and colour pencil drawings, are clear evidence of classic drawing and painting skills. I am a particular admirer of his charcoal drawings, which show a remarkable ability to convey softness and tonal range as well as the high contrast and hard edges more typical of this medium.

As for his theories on the use of optical aids by great artists of the past, there can be little doubt that leading artists have, when required, used every aid technically available to achieve precision when needed - and why not? Grids, shadowgraphs and the camera lucida are techniques which would have been fascinating and irresistable to a skilled artist seeking to perfect his craft. Such techniques are taught in the better art schools alongside the more traditional skill of draughtsmanship.

It is also unarguably true that some great artists have, by hard work and enormous dedication, achieved the ability to reproduce the three-dimensional world they see onto a two-dimensional surface with extraordinary perceptual skill, so as to make the image appear convincingly accurate, without the use of instrumental aids. Some of Hockney's early paintings show that he was quite competent at that when he wanted to be.

Whether particular artists used optical aids to the full extent hypothesised by Hockney cannot now be known for sure. Nor is the Scientific American article a definitive "debunking" as claimed. It is a contrary opinion as subjective as Hockney's. We shall never know for sure, but the single-minded skilled professional striving for perfection is not something that has appeared only in the last century, and I suspect Hockney's theory, if not 100% correct, is nearer the truth than the denials of his critics.

This book is a fascinating exposition of some of the clever techniques the Old Masters could have used, and probably, in many cases, did use to achieve their extraordinary results. In no way does it denigrate their skills - on the contrary, it shows the amount of study and research needed to become a great artist. If you are interested in the craft of painting, this is required reading.

12 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

How the masters did it

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2022

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Very insightful. Hockney explains the techniques the master artists used well. I've read some reviews saying the masters of old using these techniques cheated, but any artist would know there's no such thing at cheating. Hockney explains how the sudden improvements in artists painting objects with ellipses that were perfect, were made. Artists always search for ways of improving their work or painting faster. Like most things in life, artists were problem solvers and when they how found a new way of painting or overcoming a problem they kept it to themselves. Thanks to Hockney I have a much better idea of how they worked.

4 people found this helpful

Frau H aus K

Offenbarung!

Reviewed in Germany on October 23, 2020

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Das Buch ist eine Offenbarung für jeden, der schon einmal fasziniert vor den alten Meistern stand! Ich konnte es nur auch Englisch erwerben und hatte anfangs Zweifel, ob ich zurecht komme, aber das hat sich schnell gelegt. Auch die Fotografien sind wirklich hochwertig.

One person found this helpful

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