Spring cannot be cancelled

    This is a delight! 

    Spring cannot be cancelled: David Hockney in Normandy by Martin Gayford is a book of enthusiasm (and enthusiasms) which centres on engagement, so that looking becomes seeing, and listening, hearing. It’s full of insights, discoveries, wisdom, and above all, the joy of living.

    In conversation (by phone or email) with his old friend, art critic Martin Gayford, David Hockney reflects on all manner of things while painting the coming of spring in the Normandy landscape in which he’s made a home. They talk about Hockney's work - of course - but range across the history of art as well. Poetry is quoted, the challenges of painting rain noted, puddles are analysed for their peculiar charm. Both men have so many references at their fingertips, their exchanges could have been pompous or self-satisfied, but there's none of that here. Instead, their easy back-and-forth is - as the jacket copy says - "an uplifting manifesto that affirms art's capacity to divert and inspire".

    I loved Hockney’s freshness, his sense of wonder (still, at 83), his broad knowledge, and the deep pleasure he takes in the natural world. Reading it is like eavesdropping on a fascinating discussion which you hope will go on and on.

    It's a beautifully produced book, and pure pleasure to read.

Comments

[Mary]

I'm so looking forward to the exhibition - a very joyful note for the re-opening of the RA.
I went to the the Gilbert&George show the other day - but their outlook is so gloomy! Still, it was good to have something open!