David Hockney O.M., C.H. : one of the most influential artists of the 20/21 Century dies aged 88. RIP

Every morning in the QUEERGURU Office, we get to see this etching on our wall.  It is from a series created in 1966 by David Hockney to illustrate 14 poems by the Greek poet C. P. Cavafy (1863 – 1933). Cavafy was one of the earliest modern authors to write about same-sex love and proved an inspiration to the young Hockney, who stole a copy of Cavafy’s translated poems from Bradford Library in 1960. The etching is not a literal interpretation of the poem’s subject matter – homo-erotic fantasies in a sleepy, provincial village – but instead evokes the poem’s mood of relaxed intimacy through the use of a crisp and spare line.

It was a spur-of-the-moment purchase by our Brit Editor to add to his growing art collection because he simply fell in love with the piece. And because it was by David Hockney who was not only an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, but he was also consideredone of the most influential British artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.  His death was announced this morning at the age of 88

Hockney came out as gay when he was 23, while studying at the Royal College of Art in London and before Britain decriminalised homosexual acts seven years later in the Sexual Offences Act 1967. Hockney explored the nature of gay love in his work, such as in the painting We Two Boys Together Clinging (1961), named after a poem by Walt Whitman. He became an iconic figure in the LGBTQA+ movement and a vocal activist for causes like governmental cuts in the arts as well as gay marriage, and rights in general

In the early 1970s, filmmaker Jack Hazan, fascinated by Hockney’s portraits, made with the artist’s partial and reluctant participation, and without any specific scenario or agenda, the most beautiful documentary A BIGGER SPLASH : a story tracing the disintegration of the affair between Hockney and his lover and model, the Californian Peter Schlesinger. Incorporated into this episode narrative are members of the flamboyant, charismatic, hard-working artist’s circle, most notably Henry Geldzahler, Patrick Proctor, Celia Birtwell and Ossie Clark, the subjects of several key portraits. (It is still streaming on major platforms such as Amazon and YouTube)

Hockney refused the offer of a Knighthood but did accept from the Queen the distinquished Order of Merit (OM) and the equally prestigious Companion of Honour (CH ) “awarded for having a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time” (limited to 65 people). This following rather wonderful collection of photographs of Hockney were published today by the BBC :