Saturday, September 6, 2025

Art Eyewitness Essay: "Mirror of the Soul", Reflections on the Paris to Provence exhibit at the Barnes Foundation

 

"Mirror of the Soul"
     Reflections on the Barnes Foundation's Paris to Provence Exhibition


Text by Ed Voves
Original Photography by Anne Lloyd

In a December 1885 letter to his brother, Theo, Vincent van Gogh composed one of his most poignant statements on his aims as an artist:

"I'd rather paint people's eyes than cathedrals," Van Gogh stated, "for there's something in the eyes that isn't in the cathedral ... to my mind the soul of a person ... is more interesting."

While reading this heartfelt statement, one almost senses that the Dutch painter will continue his reflections with a paraphrase of the often-quoted proverb, "the eyes are the mirror of the soul."

Van Gogh did not pursue the eyes/soul theme or use the analogy of mirror in his 1885 letter to Theo. Earlier, in 1877, he did write in this vein to his brother - as we will discuss momentarily. But when I stood before Van Gogh's portrait of Joseph-Etienne Roulin, on view in a special exhibition at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, these words soon came to mind and have been much in my thoughts since then.



Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)
 Vincent van Gogh's The Postman (Joseph-Etienne Roulin),1889

Van Gogh's "Postman" was the anchor work of art in a spectacular four-painting ensemble in the just concluded From Paris to Provence exhibition at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. In the Art Eyewitness review of this wonderful exhibit, I commented on the special insights afforded to this portrait by a change from its normal Barnes Method presentation. I won't belabor that point further.



Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)
Gallery view of Paris to Provence, showing
 Van Gogh's Still Life (1888), The Smoker (1888), The Postman (1889) 
and Houses and Figure (1890).

Oddly enough, it was not the way that Joseph-Etienne Roulin was hung in the exhibition that occasioned my reflections on the eyes of this iconic portrait. Instead, it was a very unusual design feature in the layout of Paris to Provence in the Roberts Gallery of the Barnes which led to a train of thought which, to be honest, I had not been expecting.  



Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) 
Gallery view of Paris to Provence at the Barnes Foundation, showing
 an example of a "cut-out" or "window" exhibition feature

Known colloquially as "cut-outs" or "windows", these openings in gallery walls create lines of sight which can totally transform exhibit spaces. The Met used this technique to brilliant effect in its 2022 Winslow Homer exhibition.



Anne Lloyd, Photo (2022)
 Gallery view of the Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents exhibit at The Met

Instead of keeping us "imprisoned" within four walls and a ceiling, the special exhibition gallery now opens our eyes and minds to unusual sights, unorthodox angles of observation and unexpected impressions and thoughts. This process sounds more dramatic than it is in practice, which transpires at several degrees below our conscious awareness.

Yet, these "cut-outs" can powerfully affect our perception and help transform a visual encounter with works of art into a visionary experience.

For that to happen, we need to augment the influence of sophisticated design techniques like "cut-outs" with an appreciation of the work of art we are examining. This includes the social and spiritual realms which the artist and his subject inhabit, as well as the exterior setting around them.  

To help us comprehend this complex interplay of outer environment and inner character traits, another quote from Vincent van Gogh is in order. This reflection dates to 1877, when Van Gogh worked in an art dealership in London. In a letter to his brother, Theo, Van Gogh wrote,

 "The souls of places seem to enter the souls of men, so often from a barren, dreary region there emerges a lively, ardent and profound faith. As the place, so the man. The soul is a mirror first, and only then a seat of feeling."   

To test Van Gogh's theories on how the circumstances of the world around us enter into the "souls of men", let's compare the Barnes Foundation's portrait of Joseph-Etienne Roulin with two others which the Dutch artist painted of the French postal official (of a total of six).    

Shortly after arriving in Arles during the winter of 1888, Van Gogh became acquainted with Joseph-Etienne Roulin (1841-1903) and established a close friendship. Early on, he painted an impressive, almost heroic-scale, portrait of Roulin in his dark blue postal uniform, which gave him the air of a rugged sea-captain. 



Vincent van Gogh, Postman Joseph Roulin, 1888

This portrait, one of the treasures of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, presents  Roulin in an introspective mood. His eyes are not focused on Van Gogh, but looking inward. That is certainly not the case with a tightly-cropped portrait of Roulin, painted around the same time. It has the hard, almost defensive, stare of a passport photo.

It is this second work, from the collection of the Detroit Institute of Art, which best serves as a foil to the Barnes portrait of Roulin, which was painted in the spring of 1889. The two works, studied in contrast, exemplify Van Gogh's 1877 reflections on how the "soul is a mirror first, and only then a seat of feeling." 
  


Van Gogh's Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin, 1888,
 from the Detroit Institute of Art, (left) contrasted with the Barnes Foundation's The Postman (Joseph-Etienne Roulin), 1889

We know from Van Gogh's letters to Theo that it took him a while to get the measure of Roulin. Initially, he matter-of-factly described Roulin as a "man more interesting than most." 

By the time he painted Roulin in the spring of 1889. Van Gogh's tone had completely changed. Roulin had devotedly aided him during the terrible emotional breakdown triggered by the dispute with Gauguin. Even after he was transferred to duty in Marseilles, Roulin returned to Arles to visit Van Gogh, as he struggled to regain control of his life. Now, Roulin is described as having "the salient gravity and a tenderness for me such as an old soldier might have for a younger one." 
  



Gravity and tenderness, along with concern, sorrow and perhaps, a touch of fear. These emotions are visibly present in the "mirror" of Roulin's eyes. An intelligent man, with considerable life experience, Roulin likely suspected that Van Gogh's recovery would be a difficult process. 

There can be absolutely no doubt that the experience of his friendship with Roulin  had registered in Van Gogh's soul as "a seat of feeling." Van Gogh signed the Barnes Foundation portrait, "Vincent." It was the only one of his six portraits of Roulin to be signed. 

Van Gogh captured the essence of Roulin's character and inner spirit, making this work one of the greatest portraits in European art during the "long" 19th century. Having acknowledged Van Gogh's achievement, it also needs to be emphasized that From Paris to Provence gave plenty of scope to his contemporaries as portrait painters. Renoir, Cezanne, Gauguin and later Modigliani and Soutine, each in their unique way, devoted themselves to depicting their subjects - body and soul. 


    

The opening gallery of Paris to Provence presented a choice selection of portraits by Renoir, a portrait by Cézanne of his wife (which, like many a Cézanne, seems more of a work-in-progress than a finished painting) and an intriguing genre scene by Manet. All are works of enduring merit. 



Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)
 Gallery view of the Paris to Provence exhibition, showing Renoir's Portrait of 
Jeanne Durand-Ruel, 1876

Given our theme of the eyes as "mirror of the soul,"  Renoir's portraits of two young girls, each the daughter of a prominent art dealer, command our attention.



Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)
 Details of Renoir's Portrait of Jeanne Durand-Ruel, 1876, &
Girl with a Jump Rope: Portrait of Delphine Legrand, 1876

The girl on the left, Jeanne Durand-Ruel (1870-1914), was the daughter of Paul Durand-Ruel, the principal dealer of Manet and the Impressionists, including Renoir. On the right is Delphine Legrand, whose father, Alphonse Legrand, helped organize the Second Impressionist Exposition. This occurred in 1876, the year Renoir painted both portraits.

Renoir is said to have left the choice of clothing to the subjects who sat for their portraits. In the case of these children, the selection would have been made by their parents. The decision to dress the six-year old Jeanne in a bare-shouldered ball dress seems out-of-character for a level-headed business man and staunch Catholic like Durand-Ruel. Whatever motivated the choice of this dress, the result was to make little Jeanne look "living-doll" cute but also vulnerable, rather than grown-up and beautiful.

The blue smock, worn by Delphine, was a more sensible choice. Even grasping a jump-rope, she projects a mature personna. Looking at Delphine Legrand, one senses that this little girl is quite capable of handling herself in her social milieu.




Close-study of the faces and eyes of Jeanne and Delphine confirm what marvelous portraits these are. Renoir succeeded in capturing the real character of each girl and evoking their individual souls as "a seat of feeling." Jeanne's eyes are compelling and appealing; Delphine's are alert, aware and self-assured.

Or so it seems - and this is an important point to consider.

If we continue to hearken-back to the proverb, "the eyes are the mirror of the soul," we need to reflect on what this means. Proverbs, like the Oracle of Delphi, are open to interpretation. 

Who is reflected in the mirror of Jeanne's and Delphine's eyes? The young girls themselves? Renoir, who painted them? We, the art lovers who study them?



Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)
 Cézanne's Madam Cézanne, 1888-1890, Barnes Foundation

Continuing in this train of thought, who is mirrored in the dull, dark eyes of Madam Cézanne? Displayed in the same gallery as the Renoir portraits just described, Cézanne's painting appears to come from a completely different artistic convention and an alien way of thinking.

Cézanne could paint endearing and character-affirming portraits - when he was moved to do so. He demonstrated his versatility with Madam Cezanne with Her Hair Down, from the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This was created shortly after the Barnes Foundation portrait with its grim, sullen expression, dating to 1890. 


                                                                                                                      
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) 
Cézanne's Madam Cézanne with Her Hair Down, 1890
 Philadelphia Museum of Art collection

Cézanne's rationale for depicting the human countenance according to the dictates of mood and feeling is memorably described  by his biographer, Alex Danchev:

Cézanne portrait is more a thereness than a likeness. The mature Cézanne scorned mere likeness ... The portraits he preferred were the ones that showed temperament...

Inscrutable though the Barnes' portrait of Madame Cézanne may appear, we should resist concluding that personal factors or traces of marital discord influenced the way her husband depicted her. Cézanne had other motives. He was pushing art into uncharted regions, toward discovering a "thereness." 

Sentimentality had little place in Cézanne's artistic calculations. He adored his son, Paul. Yet the numerous portraits and sketches of Paul displayed in the National Gallery exhibit, Cézanne's Portraits (2018), and MOMA's Cézanne Drawing (2021) feature a circumscribed range of emotions much like those in  paintings of his mother. No beaming eyes or charming smiles that I can recall.

Instead of sentimentality in his portraits, Cézanne responded to sensations.

"I paint as I see, as I feel," Cézanne declared early in his career, "and I have very strong sensations."

It was these sensations and Cézanne's rigorous determination to depict them on his canvas which drew the attention of the succeeding generation of artists to follow his example, if not his techniques.

In the final gallery of From Paris to Provence, the legacy of Renoir, Van Gogh and - especially - Cézanne was seized-upon and radically re-envisioned by the School of Paris artists. 


Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)
 View of the final gallery of From Paris to Provence, showing (from left) Modigliani's Girl with a Polka-Dot Blouse (1919), Soutine's Woman in Blue (1919) & Modigliani's Portrait of the Red-Headed Woman (1918)

Of this avant-garde group, Modigliani and Soutine worked with an almost reckless disregard for convention and their own health. They sought to integrate new influences into the art of portraiture - African masks, unsettling theories about human thought, emotion and sexuality, the impact of World War I - to promote the grand traditions of French art for a new century.

To  a remarkable degree, the School of Paris painters, with hardly a Frenchman in their ranks, made a lasting impact on the world of art.                                            



Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)
Details of portraits by Amadeo Modigliani and Chaim SoutineModigliani's Portrait of the Red-Headed Woman (1918)Girl with a Polka-Dot Blouse (1919); Soutine's Woman in Blue (1919)

By the time this essay is posted, all of the works of art displayed in From Paris to Provence will have been rehung in their accustomed places on the gallery walls of the Barnes. Most had not been moved from their prescribed configuration since the 1993 international exhibition of Barnes Foundation works of art.  

Van Gogh's "Postman" will return to its cramped position behind an 18th century Windsor chair and Delphine Legrand will hop and skip with her jumping rope over a painted wooden chest, made by Pennsylvania Dutch craftsmen in 1792.



Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)
 Visitors to the Barnes Foundation, viewing works of art in the Main Room, north wall, of the museum

However, don't expect the situation at the Barnes to be exactly as it was before From Paris to Provence. This is especially true, if you had the good fortune to visit this superb exhibition. 

Once you look in the mirror of a person's eyes and catch a glimpse of their soul - or a reflection of your own - things are never quite the same again.

***

Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved                                  

Original photography, copyright of Anne Lloyd

All works of art, unless otherwise noted are from the Barnes Foundation collection


Introductory Image:
Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Detail of Pierre-August Renoir's Portrait of Jeanne Durand-Ruel, 1876.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Vincent van Gogh's The Postman (Joseph-Etienne Roulin), 1889. Oil on canvas: 25 7/8 x 21 3/4 in. (65.7 x 55.2 cm).

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery view of Paris to Provence at the Barnes Foundation, showing four paintings by Vincent van Gogh: Still Life (1888), The Smoker (1888), The Postman (1889) and Houses and Figure (1890).

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery view of Paris to Provence at the Barnes Foundation, showing an example of a "cut-out" or "window" exhibition feature.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2022) Gallery view of the Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890) Postman Joseph Roulin, 1888. Oil on canvas: 32 x 25 3/4 in. (81.3 x 65.4 cm). Museum of Fine Arts Boston. 

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890) Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin, 1888. Oil on canvas: 25 9/16 x 19 7/8 in. (65 x 50.5cm). Detroit Institute of Art. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery view of the Paris to Provence exhibition, showing exhibition  entrance and Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Woman with a Fan.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery view of the Paris to Provence exhibition, showing Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Portrait of Jeanne Durand-Ruel, 1876.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Details of Renoir's Portrait of Jeanne Durand-Ruel, 1876. 44 7/8 x 29 1/8 in. (114 x 74 cm)  and Girl with a Jump Rope: Portrait of Delphine Legrand, 1876. Oil on canvas: 42 1/4 x 27 15/16 in. (107.3 x 71 cm) 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Cézanne's Madam Cézanne, 1888-1890. Oil on canvas: 36 1/2 × 28 3/4 in. (92.7 × 73 cm) 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Cézanne's Madam Cézanne with Her Hair Down, 1890. the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Oil on canvas: 24 3/8 × 20 1/8 in. (61.9 × 51.1 cm) 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Installation view of the final gallery of From Paris to Provence, showing (from left) Modigliani's Girl with a Polka-Dot Blouse (1919), Soutine's Woman in Blue (1919) and Modigliani's Portrait of the Red-Headed Woman (1918).

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Detail of portraits by Amadeo Modigliani and Chaim SoutineModigliani's Portrait of the Red-Headed Woman (1918). Oil on canvas: overall: 45 11/16 x 28 3/4 in. (116 x 73 cm); Modigliani's Girl with a Polka-Dot Blouse (1919). Oil on canvas: 45 1/2 x 28 3/4 in. (c 115.6 x 73 cm); Soutine's Woman in Blue (1919). Oil on canvas: 39 1/2 x 23 3/4 in. (100.3 x 60.3 cm)

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Visitors to the Barnes Foundation, viewing works of art in the Main Room, north wall, of the museum.

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Art Eyewitness Review: David Hockney Book Shelf


David Hockney Book Shelf


A Selection of Books about David Hockney

 from Thames and Hudson


Reviewed by Ed Voves
Original photos by Anne Lloyd

For art lovers, the autumn months have much to offer. Major new museum exhibitions and gallery shows have already been announced. New moments of inspiration, new memories to cherish are about to be made. 

Anticipation, in the lyrics of the 1971 Carly Simon song, may be “keeping me waiting.” But, like the melancholy figure in David Hockney’s Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), I am not ready yet to let go – emotionally – of the summer of 2025. 

There certainly have been some wonderful spring/summer exhibitions this year. Anne and I have more than a twinge of regret at the closing of Sargent and Paris at The Met. And then there are the exhibits that eluded our reach and our grasp. 

David Hockney (born 1937) figures prominently at the top of the list of exhibitions we were unable to visit "in person." The Fondation Louis Vutton in Paris has mounted the greatest-ever Hockney retrospective, utilizing every gallery in its building to encompass the vast range of Hockney's incredible oeuvre


  
 David Hockney, Portrait of My Father, painted in 1955, 
and After Munch Less is Known than People Think, 2023
          
The Over 400 paintings by Hockney, ranging from the young artist's somber 1955 portrait of his father to very recent work, including "conversations" with William Blake and Edvard Munch, are on view. The exhibition at the trendsetting Paris museum will continue until August 31, 2025.

gallery views of David Hockney 25, generously provided by the Fondation Louis Vutton, testify to the "blockbuster" status of this exhibition. Every aspect of Hockney's creative embrace of life and art is carefully presented, with cogent essays in the exhibition catalog brilliantly complementing the paintings on display.



David Hockney, Self Portrait with Red Braces, 2003

More to the point, the awesome assemblage of Hockney's works across the span of his career confirm that he is worthy of the compliment paid by John Constable to his reputed rival, J.M.W. Turner. 

David Hockney has "a wonderful range of mind." 



Installation view of David Hockney 25 at the Fondation Louis Vutton showing Hockney's Bigger Trees near Warter or ou Peinture
 sur le Motif pour le Nouvel Age Post-Photographique, 2007

David Hockney 25 differs from the previous major Hockney retrospective, which was presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2017. Although significant highlights of Hockney's early work are on view, the major emphasis is on his experiments in art during recent years. Hockney's digital art, created by using iPhone, iPad and photographic drawing is a new, unprecedented genre and certainly worthy of the amount of attention it receives in the exhibition.



Installation view of David Hockney 25 at the Fondation Louis Vutton, showing Hockney's 27 March 2020, No. 1, and other landscapes

Many of the art lovers who are fortunate in being able to travel Paris to see David Hockney 25 are likely to be familiar with Hockney's iPad drawings from illustrations in books or magazines. They will be able to see these digital works at first hand. Lucky them ... but there is no reason for "sour grapes" from the rest of us.

To view Hockney's digital art between the covers of a book is no second-class substitute. Indeed, the moving account by  Hockney, detailing his use of iPad drawing during the Covid-19 crisis, is positively crucial to understanding this tremendous artistic undertaking. 

This "essential reading" was co-authored by Martin Gayford. Spring Cannot be Cancelled, details how Hockney, living at his country home in Normandy, France, responded to the tragic effects of pandemic and quarantine, which blighted countless lives. Hockney, working at great speed, used his iPad to record the arrival of spring with a plethora of closely-focused images.

The sights of spring, once taken for granted, were denied to many in 2020. David Hockney restored the balance, harmony and beauty of nature.



David Hockney, 27 March 2020, No. 1, 2020

Spring Cannot be Cancelled was published by Thames & Hudson in 2021. For several years, this inspirational book was the "essential reading" selection of Art Eyewitness. Martin Gayford's How Painting Happens is currently in this slot, but Spring Cannot be Cancelled has lost none of its insight and power.

Over the years, T&H has functioned as the source of a stream of books about and written by Hockney. Three recent T&H titles are keeping the David Hockney "bookshelf" well-stocked. 

The three volumes are the catalog of David Hockney 25 (328 pages/$60), The World According to David Hockney, a collection of Hockney quotes and aphorisms (176 pages/$19.95), and the revised edition of the classic Hockney's Pictures (496 pages/$50).

Let's have a look!

The first volume on our bookshelf is the catalog of the exhibition at Fondation Louis Vutton. As expected, the curators of the museum and the staff at T&H have pulled-out all the stops to produce a book which is truly a work of art in its own right.




Two aspects of this magnificent book are worthy of some reflection - beyond noting the awesome quality of its many, many illustrations.

As stated earlier, the Fondation Louis Vutton exhibition and its catalog concentrate of Hockney's recent work, especially his numerous series of landscapes and portraits, executed in oils, acrylic paint or digital media. Hockney's enthusiastic use of the full artist's tool kit of the twenty-first century does not imply the displacement of traditional techniques by cutting-edge technology.



David Hockney, In the Studio, 2019

Hockney, as he has done throughout his long career, uses whatever artistic medium suits his purpose, whatever best serves to help him realize his vision. There are recent charcoal and pen and ink drawings in the Fondation Louis Vutton catalog which are worthy of Ingres or Sargent, as well as inkjet printed computer drawings and iPad drawings. 

Realizing "his vision" is paramount to Hockney - and key to understanding his genius. Hockney, with quiet deliberation has navigated his way through all the "isms" and agendas which have otherwise defined the art scene of the last sixty years. Winter Timber (2009) reproduced in a stunning, double-page spread in the David Hockney 25 catalog, is a good example of how Hockney has made his own individualistic mark.

Winter Timber depicts the landscape of eastern Yorkshire, painted in a non-naturalistic color scheme worthy of the Fauves. Rather than executing this work on a single, over-sized support, Hockney painted fifteen separate canvases, each measuring 36 x 48 inches. The component parts of the picture were then combined to form a unified image - 108 x 240 inches (274.3 x 609.6 cm).

An intriguing work of art, Winter Timber invites a wide range of interpretations. An impassioned plea for respecting the environment? A timely reminder to follow "the road less-traveled", in this case the path which veers off to right, past the purple tree stump?



David Hockney, Winter Timber, 2009

Hockney's response to such questions is to emphasize the importance of Winter -and thereby underscoring the resilience of nature. That's an unexpected comment from a man who reminded the world that "Spring cannot be cancelled."

"People have it all wrong imagining it to be a time when the world goes dead," Hockney has stated. "Trees are never more alive than in winter, you can virtually see the life force, thinned but straining, pulsing, the branches stretching palpably, achingly toward the light."

Earlier in this review, I compared Hockney (favorably) to Turner, but when it comes to articulate comments and lucid writing, there is no comparison. Hockney wins the day on both counts, as can easily be appreciated in our second book selection, The World According to David Hockney.


Here is a sample of what Hockney has to say on life, art, nature, technology and inspiration:

Looking is a positive act. You have to do it deliberately.

The world is beautiful and if we don't think it is, we are doomed as a species.

Art should be a deep pleasure. There is a contradiction in an art of total despair, because at least you are trying to communicate, and that takes away a little of the despair. Art has this contradiction built into it.

God, if you want to paint, just paint.

Essentially, Hockney's "words of wisdom" are subdivided into two groups: profound, incisive comments on art and spontaneous, heartfelt remarks, filled with the enthusiasm and joie de vivre which comes from making creative expression a part of one's daily experience.

One of the latter relates to a painting I much admired at the 2017 Met retrospective of Hockney's works: Contre-jour in the French Style - Against the Day dan le Style Francais, 1974.


Anne Lloyd, Photo (2017)
David Hockney's Contre-jour in the French Style
 - Against the Day dan le Style Francais, 1974

Forget for a moment any explanation of this striking, inimitable painting except what Hockney has to say about it:

I saw this window with the blind pulled down and the formal garden beyond. I thought, oh, it's marvelous, marvelous! This is a picture in itself.

My favorite quote combines Hockney's deep love of classic art and his unquenchable sense of humor. This quote is paired with his renowned 1967 painting, Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy. See how it strikes you!



Anne Lloyd, Photo (2017)
David Hockney's Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy, 1971
 
Somebody once commented that my double portraits are like Annunciations. There's always somebody who looks permanent and someone who's kind of a visitor. 

The third volume on our bookshelf is Hockney's Pictures. Originally published in 2004, this updated and expanded new edition is a large-format paperback. The 522 illustrations, spanning Hockney's entire career, rival those in the Fondation Louis Vutton catalog for size, clarity and fidelity of color. 



Page spread from David Hockney’s Pictures, published by     
Thames & Hudson, showing Hockney's 
Mulholland Drive: the Road to the Studio, 1980 

The text emphasizes insights from Hockney rather than commentary by art scholars. Thus, Hockney's Pictures combines the virtues of the David Hockney 25 catalog and The World According to David Hockney.

Hockney's Pictures is arranged in thematic chapters which enable us to study in detail all of the many aspects of his oeuvre. I found the treatment of Hockney's use of photos, to create cubist-style collages, to be especially enlightening.



David Hockney, Mother I, Yorkshire Moors, August 1985, 1985

Age has not dimmed David Hockney's vision or curbed his creative output. Hockney is on record as stating that he feels 30-years of age when he picks-up a brush or sets to work on his iPad. There's not a hint of a "last chapter" in any of these three books.  

For a summing-up, let's turn again to the Fondation Louis Vutton catalog of David Hockney 25. In an essay in this splendid book, the historian Simon Schama reflects on Hockney's capacity to convey pleasure as a defining characteristic of his art.

Comparing Hockney to the Gothic cathedral stained glass artisans, Schama writes: 

Just as there was no division in that sacred work between makers and worshippers, Hockney's pursuit of visual joy, I think, has always presupposed his unaffected inseparability from those who are going to consume it.

At first, "consume" seemed an odd word to use in reference to Hockney's work, as if it were a commodity to be used-up. But, if we regard art - as Hockney creates it - as something essential to human well-being like food, then "consume" is the correct word.


 David Hockney, Mt. Fuji and Flowers, 1972 

Food for thought. Food for the soul. Brought to you by David Hockney and Thames & Hudson.

***

Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved.

Original photos: Copyright of Anne Lloyd, all rights reserved.

Introductory Image:                                                           

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2017) David Hockney’s Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), 1972. Acrylic on canvas: 84 inches. x 120 inches (214 cm. x 275 cm.) The Lewis Collection. Photo was taken at the 2017 Hockney retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

David Hockney (British, born 1937) Portrait of My Father, 1955 (Oil on canvas: 50.8 x 40.6 cm., 20 x 16 in.) and After Munch - Less is Known than People Think, 2023. Acrylic on canvas: 121.9 x 182.9 cm (48 x 72 in.) © David Hockney

David Hockney (British, born 1937) Self Portrait with Red Braces, 2003. Watercolor on paper; 24 x 18 1/8". Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California. © David Hockney. Photo Credit: Richard Schmidt.

Installation view of David Hockney 25 at the Fondation Louis Vutton, Paris, showing David Hockney’s Bigger Trees near Warter or ou Peinture sur le Motif pour le Nouvel Age Post-Photographique, 2007. Photo courtesy of the Fondation Louis Vutton.

Installation view of David Hockney 25 at the Fondation Louis Vutton, Paris showing David Hockney’s 27th March 2020, No. 1 and other landscapes. Photo courtesy of the Fondation Louis Vutton.

David Hockney (British, born 1937) 27th March 2020, No. 1, 2020. iPad painting printed on paper, mounted on five aluminium panels, 364.1 x 521.4 cm (143 ¼ x 205 ¼ in.) overall.

Cover Art of David Hockney 25. Published by the Foundation Louis Vutton and Thames & Hudson 2025.  Image © Thames & Hudson.

David Hockney (British, born 1937) In the Studio, 2019. Ink on paper: 57.47 x 76.84 cm (22.625 x 30.25 Inches) Private Collection. © David Hockney Photo Credit: Richard Schmidt

David Hockney (British, born 1937) Winter Timber, 2009. Oil on canvas, in 15 parts:. Overall: 108 x 240 in. (274.3 x 609.6 cm.) Private collection. © David Hockney  Photo courtesy of Fondation Louis Vutton.

Cover Art of The World According to David Hockney. Published by Thames & Hudson.  Image © Thames & Hudson.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2017) David Hockney’s Contre-Jour in the French style – Against the Day dans le Style-Francais. Oil on canvas: 182.9 x 182.9 cm (72 x 72 inches) Collection of the Ludwig Museum, Budapest. Photo was taken at the 2017 2017 Hockney retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2017) David Hockney’s Mr.and Mrs.Clarke and Percy, 1971. Acrylic on canvas: 213.4 x 304.8 cm. (84 x 120 inches) Tate Britain Museum. Photo was taken at the 2017 David Hockney retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Page spread from David Hockney’s Pictures showing Mulholland Drive the Road to the Studio, 1980. Image © Thames & Hudson

David Hockney (British, born 1937) Mother I, Yorkshire Moors, August 1985, 1985. Photographic collage: 46.99 x 33.02 cm (18.5 x 13 Inches).© David Hockney  Photo Credit: Richard Schmidt

David Hockney (British, born 1937) Mt. Fuji and Flowers, 1972. Acrylic on canvas: 60 x 48 in. (152.4 × 121.9 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art. #1972.128 © David Hockney