A new book published today celebrates artist David Hockney’s unique eye and experimentation with the technology and techniques of painting. Its publication coincides with a major exhibition in Cambridge at the Fitzwilliam Museum.
I had the great privilege of co-authoring a chapter in the book with Editor, Martin Kemp. Our chapter explores the ordering of nature, both arboreal and optical, in Meindert Hobbema’s masterpiece, Avenue at Middelharnis, painted in 1689. The famous painting was much admired by Hockney as a young artist, and more recently, he has undertaken two bold interpretations of the Dutch master’s iconic scene. The second of these is entitled After Hobbema (Useful Knowledge, 2017). The ‘knowledge’ in Hockey’s eye involves the seeing and representation of space according to mechanisms of perception.
The exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum is open until 29th August. Read more
Hockney’s Eye: The Art and Technology of Depiction. (2022). ISBN: 9781913645120
The book is available on Amazon, Bookshop.org, and all good bookshops.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.
