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David Hockney (1937-2026)

David Hockney, A Bigger Splash, 1967. Tate

David Hockney is dead at 88.

Here's a link to my most read Hockney post, about the connection between Hockney's Pearblossom Highway and Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita.

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Anonymous said…
In his swimming pool and sprinkler paintings, Hockney shows us that banality can sometimes provide painting with the most profound subject matter.

... With that splash painting, Hockney had already touched eternity.

--- J. Garcin
June 12, 2026 at 11:55 AM
Ted Gallagher NYC said…
The Treachery of Images
June 12, 2026 at 12:32 PM
Anonymous said…
I always wonder why the Broad Museum has never had in its collection a Hockney work. If any artist is emblematic of "Los Angeles," Hockney is one.

He certainly is technically and creatively as good, if not better, than certain other LA-based artists are. Actually, thematically too. Or more than, in comparison, a Mark Bradford. Such artists' subject matter generally can't be identified with a particular place.
June 12, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Anonymous said…
What makes you think the Broad collection intends to be “emblematic of Los Angeles”? Lichtenstein, Warhol, Koons, Twombly, Basquiat - many of the largest groups of holdings are by artists primarily based elsewhere.
June 16, 2026 at 4:35 PM
Ted Gallagher NYC said…
I don't know Broad well. Who are the heavy hitters in the Broad Collection who are “emblematic of Los Angeles”?
June 17, 2026 at 6:28 AM
William Poundstone said…
Broad’s collecting began with the downtown New York scene of the 1980s. His collection is still more identified with NY and buzzy global art fair stars than Los Angeles. But Broad did collect Sam Francis, Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari, Mike Kelley, Barbara Kruger, Robert Therrien, and Mark Bradford in depth. Since Broad’s death the museum has added a set of Patrick Martinez pieces and a single Henry Taylor painting.
June 17, 2026 at 7:46 AM
Anonymous said…
> intends to be “emblematic
> of Los Angeles”?

I never said it was. However - as with other institutions - its modus operandi is focusing more and more on art and artists who fit the category of "diverse" or "inclusive." Geography is somewhat a part of that too. Or where NYC-centric (or Paris-centric of the 1800s, early 1900s) is now increasingly more like the race/gender-centric of the past.

One artist who I wish the Broad had more in its collection is Chuck Close. I believe they have just one or two pieces from him, but that's about it.

As with a Louvre stuffed with too much old-age formulaic, museums that have too much abstract or non-representational become the opposite extreme. Or too new-age formulaic.
June 17, 2026 at 10:07 AM
Anonymous said…
The Broad collection isn't that exciting, same white male arrtist-heavy. But they are good in presenting it and engaging the public.
June 17, 2026 at 2:01 PM
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