David Hockney Preview Recasts 1982 as Turning Point in 60-Year Career

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 13

A new preview article frames 1982 as a decisive midpoint in David Hockney’s life, using that moment to reassess both his career and his working habits.
The piece argues Hockney’s public image as an easygoing social figure masked a relentless studio discipline, describing him as one of the hardest-working artists the writer encountered.
It traces that contrast back through his rise in late-1950s and early-1960s London, where his early work openly expressed gay identity when it was still illegal in Britain.
Los Angeles becomes the other key setting, with the article crediting Hockney’s paintings of pools, palms and light with reshaping how the city was seen.
A 1970 painting, “Le Parc des Sources, Vichy,” is used to illustrate the broader point: even scenes that suggest leisure were, for Hockney, products of constant work.