TO SEE CLEARLY

A loving profile of one of the world’s most renowned contemporary artists.

In a summary overview of David Hockney’s youth and long career, Turk mentions significant events and people in his life—but with more of an eye to capturing his artistic sensibility than brushing in finer biographical details. Growing up passionate about drawing in a large British household “full of books, art, and love,” Hockney went on to break barriers by “put[ting] scenes of gay life into his paintings” (after experiencing his first crush, during a Boy Scout camping trip). Over decades of experimentation, he’s created distinctive, hugely popular art using computers, fax machines, and even iPhones as well as paint. Turk tracks his subject’s inspirations, from the early discovery that carefully drawing one blade of grass brought all the ones around it into sharper focus to the realization that slowing down to look closely allowed him to find multiple ways of seeing everything from portrait subjects to swimming pools. Young readers will find pathways to developing their own artistic visions and to properly appreciating those of others. In the colored pencil, gouache, and crayon illustrations, the artist, all big round glasses and brown (later blond) hair, smiles cheerily while working on or posing next to reasonably exact copies of actual select works. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A perceptive, thought-provoking, winning introduction.