David Hockney and his struggle with Modernism at Duke Street Baptist Church

Speaker: Ray Warburton

At heart David Hockney is a figurative painter, painting people and places that he knows and have meaning for him. Yet as he was learning his trade, modern art was changing and new art movements from America were in the ascendency. After dabbling briefly with Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, he embarked on a number of strategies that enabled him to continue painting people and places while at the same time being modern and cutting-edge. This lecture will focus on how these strategies played out in some of his most famous paintings including his great double portraits and swimming pool pictures.