David Hockney author page

David Hockney biography

David Hockney was a British artist, printmaker, photographer and stage designer. He studied at Bradford School of Art and the Royal College of Art, and became associated with British Pop art in the 1960s.

His works include A Bigger Splash, Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy and Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures). His practice included painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, stage design and digital drawing, with repeated work on portraits, interiors, swimming pools, landscapes and different ways of showing space.

For younger readers, Hockney co-wrote A History of Pictures for Children with the art critic Martin Gayford. The book, illustrated by Rose Blake and published by Thames & Hudson in 2018, introduces visual art from cave paintings to computer drawings through a dialogue between an artist and a critic.

Hockney was made a Companion of Honour in 1997 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 2012. He died in London on 11 June 2026.

David Hockney teaching resources

• Bradford District Museums & Galleries’ Hockney Techniques workshop is a Cartwright Hall Art Gallery school session in which pupils look at Hockney artworks, investigate his techniques and media, make iPad drawings and create Hockney-inspired prints to take away.
• The National Portrait Gallery’s David Hockney: Drawing from Life schools resource provides a KS4 and KS5 Art & Design learning resource with portrait images, learning objectives, a print-text version, close-looking questions and activities on portraiture, self-portraiture, photographic collage, sitters, relationships, colour, line, space and media.
• Art UK’s The Superpower of Looking: David Hockney paints his parents is a primary-focused lesson resource on Hockney’s 1977 painting My Parents, with a zoomable image, teacher notes and close-looking activities for portrait analysis.
• The School Trip’s David Hockney: Bigger & Closer resource pack is a free Art & Design education pack for KS2, KS3, KS4 and KS5, covering perspective, Hockney’s stage work, drawing with a camera and art activities linked to the Lightroom exhibition.
• National Gallery of Victoria’s Everyday Moments: Inspired by David Hockney’s Digital Still Life Paintings is an eight-page teacher PDF for Levels 7-10 with learning objectives, student examples, Hockney iPad artworks, discussion prompts, materials lists, digital still-life instructions and reflection questions.
• Tweed Regional Gallery’s David Hockney: Words & Pictures teacher notes is a 13-page PDF on Hockney’s printmaking and illustration, with artwork notes, research prompts and discussion questions on A Rake’s Progress, the C.P. Cavafy illustrations, the Brothers Grimm etchings and The Blue Guitar.