Publisher's Weekly Review
The major theme of Hockney's art, according to one essay in this catalogue of a traveling exhibit, is a ``yawning sense of absence,'' an unfulfilled desire for connectedness. The transplanted Yorkshireman's pictures capture Southern California's pools, palms and play with deadpan seriousness. This album lets the reader decide whether Hockney's paintings, collages and prints are more than the febrile imaginings of a slick eclectic. His grid-like composite photographs attempt to convey ``lived time''; in jaunty set designs and costumes for The Rake's Progress, The Magic Flute and Tristan und Isolde, he rummages through the vast terrain of art history. All the media in which Hockney has worked are amply represented here, yet overall his output has come to look monotonous and lightweight. (March) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
This catalog to the current retrospective exhibition of the works of the English artist is the most comprehensive and complete look at Hockney's art since the 1977 publication of David Hockney (Booklist 73:1619 Jl 1 77). Addressing Hockney's paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, and stage designs, the essays included here, written by various friends and critics of the artist, examine the philosophy, influences, and techniques that Hockney has developed and employed. His mastery of many separate media and the pursuit of a unified aesthetic vision are also highlighted in these discussions of Hockney's life and work. The large number of illustrations-both accompanying text and in the section of plates that portray exhibition items-helps to document Hockney's achievement, while an interview with New Yorker staff writer Lawrence Weschler sets a more intimate and personal tone. Bibliography, chronology; index. JB. 709'.2 Hockney, David-Exhibitions [CIP] 87-26146
Choice Review
As the bibliographers for this volume say, there is a "wealth of published material by and about David Hockney." Their listing of books, articles, and catalogs covers 20 pages. This book, however, seems to be the best buy for the college library. It gives a fairly thorough account of Hockney, and the reproductions are ample and colorful although they tend to stress the later work. Hockney is an artist interested in style, and he has worked in photo-collage, theater design, and photocopy or, as he calls them, "Home-Made Prints," as well as in painting and the more traditional print media. These wide excursions also involve a kind of cubist approach gleaned directly from Picasso and a rambling space borrowed from Chinese scrolls. He speaks clearly about these influences and about the interaction of his many media. The essays are best when devoted primarily to conversation with Hockney. For college students in theater as well as in art this is a very useful book. -D. Lent, Bates College
Library Journal Review
British-born Hockney has had an international impact, and this book is a rich evocation of his 30-year career. Besides fellow artist R.B. Kitaj's overview, the book contains essays by Henry Geldzahler, Christopher Knight, Gert Schiff, Anne Hoy, Kenneth Silver, and Lawrence Weschler. This varied perspective is insightful, even startlingly intimateand in an unusual tribute to Hockney's stature as a painter, printmaker, and designer of contemporary angst, he is given the last 24 pages to make an artistic statement about the medium of creative work via commercial reproduction. This successful retrospective is recommended for all specialized art collections, particularly because of the evaluative essays, and is a fine acquisition for general libraries as well. Paula A. Baxter, NYPL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
