David Hockney
English painter, printmaker, photographer and
stage designer - Bradford’s best known artist
of the 20th and 21st centuries - David Hockney
joined Bradford Regional Art School in 1953,
graduating with honours in 1957.
In 1948 David won a scholarship to Bradford Grammar
School, where he excelled in art. In 1950 David asked his
parents to move him to the Bradford Regional Art School
but he was compelled to continue his general education.
In 1953 David took a portfolio around commercial art
studios in Leeds but they all advised that he went on to art
college, which finally persuaded his parents to allow him in
September 1953 to join the Bradford Regional Art School.
One of David’s first experiences was Frank Johnson’s
life drawing class, where he found himself extremely
embarrassed when encountered by a nude model for
the first time. Other students in his peer group included
David Oxtoby, John Loker, Peter Kaye, Norman Stevens
and Michael Vaughan. The students were either in the
Commercial Art group or the Painting group.
David was in the Commercial Art group but soon asked to
be transferred to the Painting group. He announced that
he wanted to become an ‘artist’ but the staff told him that
unless he had a private income that this was impossible.
However David insisted and as he had GCEs he was allowed
to transfer. David enjoyed his drawing classes so much
that he used to stay on for the evening classes meant for
members of the public.
The Principal had little empathy with the Painting students
as he favored the commercial art courses which were
training students for paid employment. Fortunately there
were tutors who were in favour of painting including Fred
Lyle, Derek Stafford and Frank Johnson. These tutors
believed that drawing ‘was a process of seeing and thinking
rather than imitation’ and students were taught to feel their
way through the form. Frank Johnson and Derek Stafford
used to exhibit at the Royal Academy summer exhibitions
and in 1957 they persuaded David to submit pictures for
that year’s exhibition and he was accepted! In 1957 David
graduated with honours .
From 1957 to 1959 he worked in hospitals as a
conscientious objector to fulfill the requirements of National
Service. For the first year he worked at St Luke’s hospital but
then moved to Hastings to join Loker and Kaye. In 1959 he
joined a three-year postgraduate course at the Royal College
of Art, London, graduating with the gold medal for his year
in 1962, the start of international fame.
David Hockney’s output and success in everything that
he turns his hand to is endless. He has demonstrated
fine craftsman ship in every discipline. A contemporary of
Hockney’s Tom Phillips writes that ‘his seemingly effortless
draughtsmanship is the envy of fellow artists’. He is indeed a
fine artist, painter, draughtsman, graphic artist, print maker,
photographer and set designer.
One of Bradford’s most famous sons, David Hockney
received the Queen’s Companion of Honour award on his
60th birthday in 1997 and in 2000 was made a Freeman of
the city. More recently Hockney has returned to his beloved
East Yorkshire where he used to paint as a teenager and as
an adult visit his mother and sister in Bridlington. The East
Yorkshire landscape has provided the primary source of
inspiration for his most recent work.
Much of Hockney’s work is now housed locally at the 1853
Gallery at Salts Mill in Saltaire Village. The ground floor
showcases early drawings to recent oil paintings and on the
third floor, there is a special show of opera sets, paintings
and drawings, a fitting accolade to David Hockney’s
versatility and prolific output.
Copyright picture courtesy of the Telegraph & Argus, Bradford