Art & Art History ETDs

Publication Date

5-2-1978

Abstract

The Royal College of Art was the focus of British Pop during the Fifties and Sixties in London. The "Mod" phenomenon, and the events in English history which preceeded it, were instrumental in forming the climate in which the young British artists worked. David Hockney's days as a student at the Royal College during that time in England formed the basic stance that would direct his future career. At the College Hockney met H.B. Kitaj, who would give him the confidence to paint literary and figurative pictures at a time when American Abstract Expressionism dominated the art world. In following the advice of Kitaj he would encounter resistance from the Royal College, from its academic requirements and from its faculty. The body of work generated at the Royal College is indicative of his interest in the figure, literature, and biography. This is expressed in wit, satire and invention, directed not at current notions about art but at his experience in the world. In assessing Hockney's career the pictures done as a student are prophetic. Hockney seems to be an artist from an earlier age; while the majority of his contemporaries are rejecting literary pictures, he has chosen to align himself with art history. In doing so he has borrowed from both history and the look of modern idioms. His present pictures are ironic, cool, exotic and narrative. This paper deals with the significant events prior to, and during, his tenure as a student at the Royal College of Art. His student pictures serve as a guide to his later career and, a result of his eccentric relationship to modern art, pose an alternative to artists distrustful of "mainstream" art. In using art history and the presuppositions of modernism, he has raised an issue worthy of further interpretation.

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Arts

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

UNM Department of Art and Art History

First Committee Member (Chair)

Nicolai Cikovsky Jr.

Second Committee Member

Janet Roebuck

Third Committee Member

Howard David Rodee

Fourth Committee Member

Harry Nadler

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