HOCKNEY, David. David Hockney: A Bigger Picture.

London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2012. First hardback edition. Large square quarto. pp. 300. Profusely illustrated throughout in colour. Fine copy in the original illustrated boards, issued without dust jacket as published.

Published to accompany the landmark exhibition David Hockney: A Bigger Picture held at the Royal Academy, London, in 2012, this substantial volume documents one of the most celebrated and commercially successful exhibitions of Hockney’s career. The exhibition focused on the artist’s return to the Yorkshire landscape, presenting monumental paintings, drawings, watercolours and innovative digital works created during the previous decade.

The catalogue reproduces the complete range of exhibited works, including the celebrated multi-panel woodland scenes, seasonal studies of Woldgate Woods, large-scale landscapes, iPad drawings and photographic compositions. Essays by Marco Livingstone, Margaret Drabble, Tim Barringer, Martin Gayford and others place Hockney’s work within the broader traditions of landscape painting while examining his pioneering use of new technologies.

Lavishly produced and beautifully printed, this remains the definitive record of a major exhibition that marked a significant turning point in Hockney’s artistic development. An essential reference for collectors of modern British art, exhibition catalogues and David Hockney material.

[7H]