In early June, legendary gay British artist David Hockney passed away at home at age 88, leaving behind a six-decade legacy of masterpieces in contemporary art. A museum in London pays tribute with a display of his works this summer.
Running through August 23 at the Serpentine in London, an exhibition of Hockney’s works entitled “A Year in Normandie and Some Other Thoughts about Painting”(2020-2021) will be on display at the Serpentine in Kensington Gardens.
The exhibition will display Hockney’s celebrated panoramic frieze, a long horizontal painting depicting the passage of time, inspired by the famous Bayeux Tapestry, an 11th-century embroidered cloth depicting scenes from the historic Norman Conquest of England. Hockney’s take captures the change of seasons near his former art studio in Normandy via imagery of trees and gardens as they change in light. This will mark the first time the frieze will be displayed in the U.K. The exhibition also presents a new series of acrylic paintings, including portraits of people close to Hockney, as well as still lifes.
Hockney was responsible for great contributions to art through the 20th and 21st centuries and was openly gay, coming out at the age of 23, prior to the legalization of homosexuality in the U.K. Importantly, he began depicting images of queer love in his works long before public sentiment on same-sex couples began to shift.
He worked with various mediums over the course of his life including acrylic paint, watercolor, printmaking, photography, and he even ventured into digital art, using an iPad to create new works later in life. Nearly a decade ago, in his seventies, Hockney told CNN he still painted for 6-7 hours a day.
Serpentine’s official website notes that the exhibition is meant to extend Hockney’s “lifelong fascination with the act of looking, affirming his belief that simple beauty is worth celebrating.”
